Kid Icarus: Shadow Uprising
by GodWriting
Summary: Cardinal Drake lost her family, her friends, and her nations dusing a war long ago between the Gods. She then swore to revenge for the ones she lost, but soon Medusa returns to once again lead the Underworld Army to destroy the humans. Palutena asks Cardinal for her help and now Cardinal in conflifted. Join Cardinal in this made-up version of KI:U with new characters!
1. The Summoning of a Hero

**This is my first chapter of my own version of Kid Icarus: Uprising.**

**Disclaimer: I own NONE of the KI:U characters, but new characters that appear will mostly be my OF characters**

**Please enjoy!**

_Chapter 1: The Summoning of a Hero_

A groan escaped from the Goddess's lips as she slowly awakened from her 25 year slumber. She opened her eye and remembered everything. The Goddess of Light, Palutena, her sister, had turned her into the hideous creature she was now. She cursed under her breath and growled at the sight of her face. She waved her hand over the mirror to cover up the disgusting sight and created a mask of beauty. A white face with a back tattoo under the left eye. She stared at herself for a second then walked away from her mirror and called forth her Underworld Army.

"Minions! The time that we strike is now!" She began. "We will destroy the humans and get rid of them once and for all, but not only that, we will destroy that miserable, so-called 'Goddess of Light' once and for all!" The army of monsters cheered with agreement bringing a smile to Medusa's face. The time was now. Finally, she would get her revenge.

((**LINEBREAK**))

The village in the canyons of the fields was a beautiful sight to behold. The village was untouched by evil because of its guardian. Cardinal Drake. She was a fierce warrior, not only amazing with a scythe, but incredibly skilled in Dark Magic. The village worshipped the Gods, thanking them for everything they've been given. However, Cardinal did not thank the Gods for anything. Why is because a long time ago, Cardinal's family, friends, and nation were taken away by a terrible greedy God. Ever since that day, Cardinal vowed that she would avenge what she had lost. She didn't want to thank the immortal beings, for they were all selfish and terrible. At least, that's what she thought. The people of the village try to convince Cardinal that not all the Gods aren't evil, but Cardinal wouldn't listen.

Cardinal practice her battle skills and magic everyday, only taking breaks when absolutely needed. The children adored Cardinal and looked up to her as a hero. Cardinal always told them that she was no hero, but they always denied what she said. She taught some of the older kids how to fight with a sword, the same way her father taught her. Cardinal enjoyed her time hanging around with the kids, sometimes even forgetting about what happened long ago.

That late afternoon, Cardinal went to get lunch from the usual shop in the village, when something caught her eye. Something flew in the sky towards the village. When Cardinal turned around, shots from the monsters of the Underworld. The people panicked and as monsters from all areas of the sky came down and attacked. Cardinal dropped her lunch and made her scythe emerge from thin air. She ran and sliced the first monster she saw in sight. Doing a spin in the air, Cardinal dodged incoming fire from aanother monster. The guardian threw scythe like it was a frisbee and sliced the monsters in half. Cardinal called back her scythe to her hand and it obeyed her orders by coming straight back to her hand like it was metal attracted to a magent. She ran fast through the village, attacking nearby Shernums, small, blue winged snakes. She also encountered a slug like enemy called a Nettler. Dodging its shots, Cardinal charged at it and bisected it with her scythe's edge, moving further through the village, She saw a large urn that continuously spawned the Shernums. Cardinal got her scythe ready and tossed it in the urn, which exploded and killed the Shernums within. That's when the sky began to darken again. And suddenly, a fireball charged at Cardinal from behind. Cardinal jumped out the way. She then took a few moments to observe the fireball as it bounced towards the village square, taking note of its movements.

"What was that?!" Cardinal dashed after the fire ball to the village square and when she arrived, the guardian saw a twin-headed hound. It's skin was dark red, with much of its fur engulfed in flames. The beast was formerly chained down since it had a large, metal brace with a broken chain attached to its left paw. The hound also wore bone armor along its back with funnel-like spouts running down its spine. Both heads had fierce, green eyes that looked as if it could strike fear in the most stalwart of soldiers. They also wore spiked collars with chains dangling down from them. Cardinal quickly pulled her scythe in front and charged at the great beast. The hound quickly slashed Cardinal with its claws, but Cardinal was too fast for the animal and dodged it to come around and slash the back of the dog. The hound barked as the blade made contact with the skin.

The great dog jumped out of the way and prepared an attack of its own, breathing a stream of fire at the guardian. Having no time to dodge, Cardinal used her scythe and spun it around fast, blocking the flames. She then jumped over Twinbellows, hoping to make a downward stab on the hound's back. Twinbellows responded by smacking him away with its tail, knocking Cardinal against the wall. The fiery beast charged at her, but Cardinal managed to recover quickly, moving out of its path. That caused the dog to hit the wall, stunning the creature. Suddenly, a shower of arrows came down upon the hound. Cardinal seemed a bit surprised as she looked on ahead, seeing a swarm of centurions approaching from the other side of the village.

"H-Hey! Look everyone! Those are centurions, Lady Palutena's soldiers! The goddess of light is here!" a man cried as Palutena's faded silhouette appeared behind behind the centurions.

"Well, well...I was wondering when you'd show up...Goddess of LIGHT. I thought you weren't coming to these poor creature's rescue." Then another figure appeared behind the mountains of the village. Her skin was white as ivory. Her raven hair was littered with twelve snakes, eleven green and one orange. Her hands were grayish colored, with claws for fingers. The back of her right hand was red with black markings. She wore a predominantly purple dress with gold linings on it. The dress was held up by a gold bracelet worn on her left arm. In her left hand, she held a staff decorated with a snake on it. Even though Cardinal didn't know the woman personally, she knew, from first look, that woman with leading the Underworld was Medusa. The centurions remained at the ready with bows and arrows. Cardinal looked at the projection of the Goddess of Light.

She had very long green hair, wearing a gold laurel crown. Her outfit was a relatively simple-looking white dress with numerous gold ornaments to accommodate it. Cardinal wasn't surprised that it was the Gods who were behind this. She always assumed they were fighting, but how did Medusa find the village? That question wondered through Cardinal's mind.

"So are you here to crash my homecoming party?" Medusa chuckled.

"Um...This doesn't look much like a party." Palutena replied.

"What better way to celebrate my return then with a festive little bloodbath? After all, I have been gone for 25 years." Medusa added.

""Medusa, will your evil actios know no end? You have no right to torture these people! Call Twinbellows back this instant!" Palutena demanded.

"Twinbellows...the watchdog of the Underworld..." Cardinal realized. She looked up at the two-headed dog, and ran at it again. This caught both Palutena's and Medusa's attention as Cardinal charged up her scythe's power and it started to glow purple. The guardian jumped up high in the air and graded her scythe with both hands and charged her attack.

"Dusk Blade Strike!" Cardinal brought the blade down onto Twinbellows, and cut right through the dog's thick armor. Twinbellows then gave one last howl before exploding. The darkened sky then returned to normal. Cardinal turned back to look at the giant holographic form of Medusa, who wasn't all threaten, but instead was amused.

"Hmm...Interesting. A human defeating the Underworld's most faithful servant. What's your name?" The dark goddess asked.

"I am Cardinal Drake. Guardian of this village, and if so help me, if you even dare THINK about attacking my home again, I will PERSONALLY come to the Underworld and slit your throat it 1 second flat." Medusa only chuckled at Cardinal's threat as if she was joking. The guardian growled at her.

"Brave words to a goddess from a human. I look forward to our battle." Medusa then withdrew her troops and disappeared. Cardinal simply stared as the Queen of the Underworld vanished. That's when she turned around to see the Goddess of Light, in the flesh. All she did was give a stern look to Palutena.

"What do you want?" Cardinal asked.

"That was very brave of you. Standing up to Twinbellows and Medusa like that. Do you use magic?" Palutena asked.

"...Yeah. I use Dark Magic." Cardinal answered bluntly.

"Interesting. Anyways, maybe I could ask you something." The goddess began. "You seem like quite a warrior and I can tell you devote your life and energy to protect this village. Would you be willing to fight the Underworld Army with me?" She asked, holding out her hand. Cardinal looked down at Palutena's hand and then looked back up at the goddess.

"...Thanks, but no thanks." Cardinal answered. she turned and walked away but stopped when Palutena said:

"What? You won't help stop the Underworld?"

"Don't get me wrong, I WILL fight the Underworld Army, but I'm going to help you, Palutena." Cardinal answered.

"Why?"

"...Because I don't want to serve some selfish, greedy gods that destroyed my nation, my friends, and my family." The guardian then walked away, leaving the Goddess of Light in the village square. Palutena then teleported away back to Skyworld with the Centurions.

**First chapter done. Hope those who read it enjoyed the twist I made for this.**

**Stay toon for chapter 2!**

**Chapter 2:**

** Cardinal gets a letter from the nearby kingdom that requires her services to defeat **

**Dark Lord Gaol, the newest commander in the Underworld Army. She teams up with the **

**mercenary fighter, Magnus, and they head for the castle straight on, but will surprises **

**await them?**


	2. Magnus,the Dark Lord, and the Ice Maiden

**Alright I'm now starting a new chapter for this version of KI:U, any of you who are reading this, please enjoy, review and favorite!**

_**Last time:**_

_** Cardinal Drake, a warrior out to avenge her family, defeated Twinbellows, the watchdog of the Underworld. Finding out that Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness, has returned, Cardinal is offered a partnership with Palutena, the Goddess of Light, but turns the goddess down. Now she gets a letter from the nearby kingdom, asking for assistance in the battle attack against Dark Lord Gaol.**_

_Chapter 2: Magnus, the Dark Lord, and the Ice Maiden_

On horseback, Cardinal arrived at the small city in the fields, far from her own village. Cardinal had gotten a letter not too long ago from the king of the land, asking for all the most strongest warriors in the area to come and meet at the local bar around noon. Cardinal jumped off her horse and walked into the bar the letter described. It wasn't small, because it had tons of men with muscles and beards, drinking all the beer they could, and arm wrestling with one another. When Cardinal walked in, looks from all the men went towards her. She kept walking in and sat herself down at the bar counter.

"What can I get ya, little miss?" The bartender asked with a slight Irish accent.

"...I'll just have some water." Cardinal answered. The bartender went to get her drink and returned with it.

"What's a lady like you doing here, anyway?" The bartender asked.

"I'm here because I got this." Cardinal showed the man the letter she got and it shocked him a bit.

"You're here to join the fight against the Underworld?" He whispered, so no one else would hear.

"Yeah, I sort-of have a small score to settle with Medusa." Cardinal whispered back, drinking her water.

"But that's insane!"

"What's insane?" Cardinal heard a deep coming from her left. She turned her head to see a man, somewhere around thirty or forty. He had dark skin and long, black hair. He wore predominantly black clothing. His right arm was wrapped partially in cloth, while his left arm was decorated with a notably large tattoo that extended all the way to his neck. He wore a necklace made up of stones. He also had a small dagger stored in a scabbard attached to his shirt. He carried a massive blade that was as thick as it was sharp.

"Oh! Magnus! I didn't know you would be here." The bartender said.

"Eh. Heard about the reward, how could I resist?" The man, Magnus, chuckled. He then looked at Cardinal.

"Who's the kid?" He asked, ticking Cardinal off when he call her a "kid".

"I'm NOT a kid. I'm 15, mind you." Cardinal informed with an angry sigh. Magnus chuckled again and sat down in the seat next to Cardinal. Cardinal took a drink of her water and looked at Magnus.

"So you're here for a slice of the pie too?" She asked.

"Got that right, kiddo. Hoping to get into the castle before it's too late. Since your in this too, why don't we team up?" He asked.

"I'm not too sure about that." Cardinal said.

"What's the worse that could happen? It'd be easier with two of us." The mercenary added. Cardinal looked down at her drink and then looked back at Magnus.

"Alright. I'm in. The name's Drake, Cardinal Drake."

"I'm Magnus. Nice to meet you, Drake." The mercenary held out his hand and Cardinal took his hand and then shaked on the partnership.

((**LINEBREAK**))

It took a few weeks to cross the treacherous mountains on foot for the army the king banded together. Many were lost on the way to Gaol's castle, but Magnus and Cardinal were still alive and kept marching forward. When they finally reached the area, the army stayed out of sight for a while to come up with a plan of attack, but Cardinal thought of her own plan. While the group of warriors were occupied, she snuck away and stealthily headed towards the castle. Some enemies spotted her, but she took care of them with ease. When she reached a wall, that had the Dark Lord's castle ontop, Cardinal realized that she forgot to bring rope with her.

"Need some help?" Cardinal turned around in surprise to see Magnus behind her with his blade and two grappling hooks.

"How?" Cardinal asked.

"I guess we were thinking the same idea." Magnus chuckled. Cardinal smiled at her ally and took the grappling hook given to her. The two threw the hooks up and they grabbed onto the edge of the top of the cliff. Cardinal and Magnus climbed up and made it to the top to see the castle. The two snuck around to the side of the castle to hide from guards that were coming. Cardinal then noticed vines on the side of the castle, and when she looked up, the vines were connected to a balcony of the castle.

"Found our way in." Cardinal informed Magnus and started climbing. Magnus followed after she got to the top and joined her on the balcony.

"You excited?" Magnus asked.

"Who wouldn't be? It's like a birthday party were everyone and everything is trying to kill you." Cardinal answered, making her way to the great hall. It was quite extravagant. A long burgundy carpet trailed down from the door to the center of the room. Curved stairways trailed to the upper part of the room. Cardinal and Magnus climbed the stairs and came acros two switches. One on the left of the room, and another one on the right.

"I'll take the left, you take the right." Magnus said. Cardinal nodded in agreement and headed to the right and hit the switch at the same time as Magnus, causing the door to the next room to open. The two fighters went through the door and came to a room above the interior garden in the castle. Underworld Monsters blocked their path as they made their way through, but Cardinal and Magnus took care of them easily. The walked down the steps to the lower level when they saw a battle going on.

"Check that out!" Magnus pointed to a girl using a sword and cards to strike down monsters.

"Another human? Inside the castle?!" Cardinal exclaimed. The girl finished off the batch of monsters then turned around to see Magnus and Cardinal. She had dusty light blue hair with her bangs covering her right eye. She wore what looked like a spirit maiden uniform, the ones from shrines. The one she wore was light blue and white, with one sleeve on her right arm. She wore a skirt with over-the-knee socks and sandals. Her eyes were a darker shade of blue then her hair. The girl smiled at the two travelers and said:

"Huh. Didn't know more people were here. Allies or enemies?" She then continued beating up more enemies that came near.

"We should help her." Cardinal informed her partner as she charged in followed by Magnus. The three warriors battle the enemies that just kept coming. Cardinal then saw the strange girl throw her cards at the Underworld monsters, and when they touched the monsters, the cards turned the monsters into solid ice.

"Whoa." Cardinal mumbled. The girl then used her sword to slice the frozen Monoeye in half.

"She's not a bad fighter if you ask me." Magnus said, slicing another troop of the Underworld.

"Yeah, and not bad at magic either." Cardinal replied.

"You guys having a private conversation?" The girl asked, finishing off the last monster and walked towards the two.

"Oh, no." Cardinal began. "I'm Cardinal Drake."

"Name's Magnus."

"I'm Wenst. Wenst Colo." The girl said. "I'm a Spirit Maiden from the North Shrine."

"What are you doing here?" Cardinal asked.

"The Shrine wanted me to travel and continue my training as a maiden, and when I came to the town nearby, I heard about the Underworld Army's return, and I couldn't just sit by and do nothing! Then I thought: 'This could be an excellent time for training!' So I decided to train WHILE stopping the Underworld." Wenst smiled. Cardinal and Magnus looked at each other and the guardian shrugged, guessing it made sense a little bit.

"Well, why don't defeat Gaol together? We'll out number him 3 to 1." Cardinal suggested.

"No objections here." Wenst said.

"Not a bad idea, Drake." Magnus said, patting Cardinal on the back.

"Alright, let's get going before they get more reinforcements." Cardinal ordered. The group of three began to make their way to the lower level of the castle.

"I'll follow your lead from here, Drake." Magnus said. "I got your back."

"Me too!" Wenst added. With this assurance, the three headed down into a cavern of some sorts. There, they encountered a group of Miks and a Fire Wymn. Cardinal and Wenst dispactched the Miks with ease while Magnus dealt with the Fire Wymn by throwing its sword at it, bisecting it along the that done, the two made their way into the next room and were confronted by a group of Skuttlers and Handoras, hand shaped cycloptic monsters.

"You two might want to stand back." Magnus said. Cardinal and Wenst stood a good distance from Magnus. The swordsman began to twirl his sword overhead, causing a vacumn of wind that drew in all the nearby monsters. After twirling it enough, Magnus gave it one powerful slam to the ground. The shockwave instantly obliterated all of the monsters.

"Whoa!" Cardinal was completely stunned in amazement.

"That was amazing! Subarashii!"

"Eh, it's all in the wrist." Magnus replied. Wenst giggled a little at Magnus's reply and Cardinal smiled. The three then took an elevator up. They then headed back through a door into a large stairway.

"Look's like a long way up." Wenst complained.

"What, your legs not work or something?" Magnus said as he and Cardinal ran up the stairs, cutting down any monster unfortunate enough to stand in his path.

"Hey, wait up!" Wenst ran after the two. Magnus and Cardinal finally made it to the top of the staircase, with Wenst still coming up the stairs from behind.

"I think we're closing in on Gaol's lair." Cardinal said.

"I hope you're ready." Magnus said. Cardinal looked at Magnus and nodded, and then Wenst came up to them, almost out of breath from running after them. They all got their guard up and walked into the room. The room was large and darkly colored. At the other end was a large throne. Seated on the throne was an intimidating figure clad in knight-like armor. The armor was mostly colored purple and red. The armor covered the figure so completely that the only visible features were his glowing green eyes. Green energy radiated from his hands as well. The figure's most noticeable features were his red cape, which was patterned with many eyes on it, and his helmet which had two large, curved horns protruding from it.

"Prepare for defeat, Dark Lord Gaol!" Cardinal proclaimed.

"Aw, two little ladies seem to have lost their way." Gaol responded with a distorted, demonic voice. "And Magnus, it's always a pleasure!"

"Sorry I'm late. I had other business to attend to." Magnus said as he dropped into a battle stance.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Wenst asked. But she received no response as Magnus charged at the dark lord, his blade raised. Gaol responded by protecting himself with his cape, causing a blue barrier to appear in front of him, blocking the attack. Gaol then hovered in the air and responded with a hard punch that sent Magnus flying. The mercenary sprung back to his feet and attacked with a flying kick, knocking Gaol backwards a bit. Cardinal was about to charge in when Magnus stopped her by shouting:

"I'll handle this battle alone, Drake!" Magnus then leaped upwards to perform a downward strike, only for the dark lord to summon his own cursed sword and lock blades with Magnus.

"It's so typical of you to pawn off your work on someone else. "Gaol said.

"Hey! In this economy, everyone's looking for work. Even part-time work." Magnus said as he threw Gaol off. Magnus tried to attack, only for Gaol to move to the side and deliver a spin that knocked Magnus on his back.

"That's funny." Gaol began. "Business is booming for me. We're even hiring more staff!" To further emphasize his point, Gaol summoned two Skuttlers.

"Huh. So these are the new hires?" Magnus asked with sarcasm as he attacked the Underworld monsters. More Skuttlers appeared behind Wenst and Cardinal, the girls got ready as they attacked the monsters. Once they had, Cardinal's attention turned back to Magnus and Gaol, who were fighting again.

"What's going on here?" She mumbled.

"I don't know much about the situation," Wenst began. Cardinal looked and saw Wenst making a glass ball of ice floating in her hands, and it was glowing as well. Wenst was looking into the ball and then looked up at Cardinal. "but it seems that Magnus and Gaol used to be close friends."

"Huh? Friends?" Cardinal repeated. "It doesn't seem that way to me."

"They were part of the same band of monster-fighting mercenaries, but Gaol's heart was weak, and he couldn't resist the temptation of the Underworld." Wenst explained.

"This all of this happening, it still seems hard to believe." Cardinal said, looking back at the fight going on.

"Magnus only knows one way to fight: ferociously." Wenst said. "Perhaps his fire is fueled by the child he lost to Underworld troops."

"What?!" Cardinal was stunned. Magnus and her were the same. They both lost what they loved to the Gods. Cardinal gritted her teeth. She shot daggers at Gaol with her eyes, and charged right in with her scythe. While Gaol was distracted fighting Magnus, Cardinal was able to land a clean hit on his back. Gaol turned to Cardinal with a glare and blasted her away with a dark beam. Wenst gasped and turned her attention to the Dark Lord. She took out 5 of her spirit cards and threw them in the air. They circled around her and began to glow snow white. Wenst began charging up her spiritual energy, cashing her enitre body to glow a white aura.

"Holy Frost Divination!" The cards aimed and fired themselves at Gaol's legs. When they hit, the Dark Lord's legs were frozen to the ground.

"What the?!" Gaol struggled to get free, but couldn't prevail.

"Cardinal! Magnus! How's your chance!" Wenst said. Magnus and Cardinal looked at each other and nodded. They both got up and slashed their blades down on Gaol.

"Job completed!" Wenst cheered.

"Nice job, you two." Magnus complimented the two female warriors. Gaol staggered around a bit, his hands on his chest as dark energy poured out of the armor. Gaol fell to the ground, his armor shattering on impact. That's when something strange happened. On closer inspection, it was revealed that the "dark lord" was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this." Magnus said as he kneeled down next to Gaol, his tone heavy with remorse.

"Gaol was a human? I-I didn't know. What have I done?" Cardinal couldn't believe it. He didn't like to have to resort to killing someone, particularly a human. She promised to protect people, not kill them.

"You can't feel bad." Wenst began, putting her hand on Cardinal's shoulder comforting her. "Just think of all the other people you saved. Besides, it looks like she's still holding on." Cardinal couldn't help but smile after she heard Wenst say that. She looked back at Magnus, kneeling over Gaol. Cardinal then walked out, followed by Wenst.

((**LINEBREAK**))

Cardinal brought Wenst back to her village late at night. Wenst asked Cardinal, on their way back from Gaol's castle, if she you stay with Cardinal for a while. Cardinal at first wanted to protest, but then thought that it might be nice to have some company over for awhile, so she said yes. Wenst and Cardinal ate together and had conversations over dinner.

"So, Cardinal, where's you're mom and dad?" Wenst asked. Cardinal stopped. She put down her fork and looked down at her plate. Wenst then realized that She must've said something wrong.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ask that if it's too personal! I didn't-"

"It's fine, Wenst." Cardinal finally managed to say. "...There's a guest down the hall across from my room. You can sleep there if you'd like."

"Um...Thanks." Wenst said, managing a smile, pretending to forget about what happened.

**Phew! This one took a while to write! I hope you enjoyed it! If you have a suggestions of what I should to make it better, just let me know! Favorite, comment, and follow!**

**See ya'll laters!**

**Chapter 3:**

** Cardinal's home is being attacked again by the Underworld Army. This time, she and Wenst are up against Hewdraw! Will these two be able to stop this terrible serpent, or will they need a hand?**


	3. The Heads of Hewdraw

** Here's the 3rd chapter for this version of KI:U, btw, I'm thinking of adding little bonus chapters to make the story a little funny. If you want me to do that, please leave comment or review telling me if that's a good idea or not. Alright! Let's get started with this thing!**

_**Last chapter:**_

_** Cardinal, meeting the spirit maiden, Wenst, and with the help of Magnus, defeated the Underworld Commander: Dark Lord Gaol. Cardinal lets Wenst stay with her until she has to head back to the shrine, but now things are really heating up for Cardinal. Will she be able to handle it?**_

Chapter 3: the Heads of Hewdraw

The Earth's shaking was a rude awakening for Cardinal and Wenst. The two girls got dressed and ran outside to see Underworld troops destroying the hidden village again. Cardinal growled as she magically made her scythe appear out of thin air and charged into the battle. Wenst followed Cardinal shortly after and turned the monsters into ice statues and smashing them. The villagers gained courage to grabbed small weapons, such as daggers, kitchen knives, wooden poles, anything they could use to defend themselves. The villagers fought and were a pretty good on from Cardinal's point of view.

"Don't these guys ever get tired?" Wenst complained, sending a blizzard towards a horde of enemies.

"The more you whine, the more they'll keep coming!" Cardinal shouted to Wenst. Suddenly, arrows of light came down and destroyed the Underworld troops. Cardinal looked up to see Centurions coming down with the Goddess of Light.

"Kirei! She's so pretty!" Wenst complimented, looking up at Palutena. Palutena landed in front of Cardinal, giving the guardian a warm smile.

"It seems we meet again." She said, but Cardinal only gave a poker face to the goddess and then asked:

"What are you doing here?"

"The Underworld Army is invading, and it's my job to protect humanity from it." Palutena began. "Since our goals are the same, why not band together and fight them as allies?" She asked.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I already gave you my answer before, and it's not going to change." Cardinal said.

"Hey, um, Cardinal?" Cardinal turned her attention to see Wenst.

"What?" She asked in a stern voice.

"Well...I don't think it would be too bad to fight along side the Goddess of Light. It'll give us an advantage over the enemies." The spirit maiden suggested. Cardinal was silent. Wenst didn't know about Cardinal's past with the Gods, so she didn't understand why Cardinal didn't want to fight along side Palutena. But then Cardinal gave out a defeated sigh.

"Alright. Fine. We can work together, but I'm not taking orders from you." Cardinal told Palutena.

"Great!" Wenst cheered. "Now that we've banded together, let's go after the commander leading this attack." The maiden suggested.

"Good idea." Cardinal said.

"Before we do though, there's one thing you guys should know. The commander is Hewdraw." Palutena informed.

"Hewdraw?" Wenst repeated. "You mean that giant snake thingy?" She asked.

"And speak of the devil, there he is." Palutena said, looking to the sky, turning Wenst's and Cardinal's attentions to a large, purple, three-headed serpent-like creature flying in the distance.

"How can he fly? He doesn't even have any wings." Cardinal pointed out. "Whatever, let's just do this." The guardian then slammed the end of her scythe on the ground and purple sparkles emerged from Cardinal's back and clustered together to become beautiful, transparent purple butterfly wings.

"OhMyGods! That's awesome!" Wenst cried.

"Amazing! Did you learn that on your own?" Palutena asked.

"Took me awhile, but I'm able to keep myself up in the air for as long as I want unless the wings burn or get wet." Cardinal said. She flew up and chased down Hewdraw through the sky.

"_I'll communicate with you via telepathically, Cardinal._" Palutena informed. "_Wenst and I will take care of the monsters in the village._"

"Alright." Cardinal said. The flying guardain soon caught up to Hewdraw. The three heads all had a crescent shaped horn on their head as well as a smaller one on the nose. They all had fins on the side of their heads that served as makeshift ears. Each of its three heads was a different color: the left head was blue, the middle head was violet, the right head was red.

"Hewdraw!" Cardinal called out as she flew in front of the great beast, with her scythe ready for battle.

"Hello, there!" The blue Hewdraw greeted in a deep, gruff voice.

"It's snack time!" The violet Hewdraw said with a slight British accent.

"Mmmm! What a tender little morsel!" said the red Hewdraw.

"What did you call me?!" Cardinal retorted, finding what the red Hewdraw head said insulting a bit.

"What did you say?" Came the red Hewdraw's incensed reply.

"Well technically, it's true." The violet Hewdraw said.

"Just come a little closer..." The blue Hewdraw invited.

"Hewdraw! Be prepared," Cardinal began "because it's time for-"

"Total annihilation! Bone-crushing destruction! Face-stomping carnage!" Hewdraws red, blue, and violet said in unison, stopping Cardinal from what she was saying and confusing her.

"Wait, what?" She asked. The three heads then looked at each other for a bit.

"It was my turn to have the last word!" The violet Hewdraw said.

"Oh, give it a rest." The blue Hewdraw said as he rolled his eyes.

"Let's not argue in front of company." The red Hewdraw said in an attempt to keep it calm.

"Cram a sock in it, foot face!"

"I'm soooo sick of you guys."

"Me?! What did I do?!"

"Knock it off already!"

"You knock it off!"

"I can't believe this is my life."

"Can we go home and watch TV now?"

"Would everyone just shut it?!"

"Someone put me out of my misery."

"Did I mention I'm starving?"

"And you think we're not?!" Cardinal grew tired of the heads' annoying bickering. She then slashed her scythe down on the middle head's neck and destroyed it, sending it tumbling down towards the Earth.

"Alright, who's next?" Cardinal asked. Before she could receive and answers from the two remaining heads, the red Hewdraw opened fire with a crecent shaped blast of dark energy from it's horn. Cardinal dodged it and swerved to the right just as the blue Hewdraw fired a sweeping beam from its mouth. Cardinal avoided the beam and blocked a breath of fire coming from the red Hewdraw's mouth. Cardinal then slashed down, creating a dark magic beam that was heading towards the red Hewdraw, slicing the head directly in half.

"Oh no! I'm the only one left!" The blue head exclaimed, realizing what just happened.

"Dusk Blade..." Cardinal began, charging up her weapon of darkness.

"N-No wait! Can't we just talk about this like civilized-"

"...Strike!" The guardian slashed her blade down and destroyed the last Hewdraw head.

"Mission accomplished." Cardinal told Palutena.

"_Far from it._" Palutena said. "_Those two Hewdraw heads are still alive. They've plunged into the human world below and taken their legion with them! They're heading for a nearby human city, Wenst and I will meet you over there._" The Goddess informed.

"Alright, see you guys there." Cardinal flew down and looked aroun the fields. It wasn't too hard to find the town Palutena was taking about considering it was in flames and being destroyed by two disembodied snake heads. Cardinal flew over as fast as she could and landed at the entrance of the town.

"Alright. Find the two Hewdraw heads, and kill them before they can do more damage." Cardinal reminded herself. "...Sounds simple enough." She raced through the town, taking out a pair of Commyloose. Moving forward, Cardinal ran into a horde of Komaytos. Quickly dispatching them with her scythe's blade, she found a key on the ground. She guessed it would've came in handy later, so she picked it up and continued to walk foward.

"Cardinal! Look out!" Cardinal looked and saw Wenst lunged at her, pushing herself and the guardain on the ground, just in time before the red Hewdraw head came crashing through buildings where Cardinal was standing.

"Whoa..." Cardinal gasped. Wenst got off her friend and helped her up.

"That was a close one. Thanks Wenst."

"Mondainai. No problem." Wenst said with a smile.

"You two are going to need help against surprise attacks like that." Palutena said, walking up to the to girls. "Let's go to the courtyard ahead and I'll grant you a gift."

"Really? That'd be great!" Wenst cheered. As Cardinal and her reached the courtyard, they saw the courtyard door was locked. Remembering the key from earlier, Cardinal unlocked the door and went inside.

"We're ready for that gift now, Palutena!" Wenst said.

"I'm not..." Cardinal mumbled under her breath.

"All right then!" A purple mist then briefly materialized in the courtyard. The two girls coughed a bit, after swallowing a little bit of the strange mist. When it was gone, the guardian and the maiden were left unchanged and very confused.

"Uh... what just happened?" Wenst asked. Her answer came in the form of the red Hewdraw head that jumped down and tried to land on the two girls. Cardinal got herself and Wenst out of the way of the monster's landing and ran to a safe distance. Cardinal turned to ask Palutena what the heck happened, but found that the Goddess left the two.

"_Do you like the gift?"_ Palutena asked, now using telepathy. "_It's my patented monster pheromone! Monsters just love the smell of it. And now it's all over you two!_"

"What the hell?! Why?! Are you TRYING to murder us?!" Cardinal cried out.

"_Luckily, the pheromone only attracted one of the heads._" Palutena said. "_I was wondering what you guys would've done if both of them had shown up._"

"And you still went through with it?!" Wenst asked as she narrowly dodged the Hewdraw's bite. "We would've been finished for sure!"

"_Despite my winsomeness and equanimity, I do have a strong streak of rascality._" Palutena replied. Cardinal growled, but shook the pheromone thing off and started battling the Hewdraw head, with Wenst following shortly after.

""Did you do something with your hair?" The red Hewdraw asked as he bounced at Wenst, trying to smush her. "You're suddenly looking very attractive."

"Oh! Thank you! I just washed it last-" Cardinal slapped Wenst across the face.

"He's trying to distract you! Don't fall for it!"

"Ow! Well, you didn't have to SLAP me!" Wenst snapped. The two girls broke up their little fight and got back to fighting the Hewdraw. The Hewdraw head began to charge Cardinal and the guardian responded by slashing downwards into its mouth, stunning it. Wenst then jumped over Cardinal and sent ice cards at the head of the great beast and froze it in place. Cardinal charged up her blade and let down a final strike on the head. The monster fell on its side.

"Before I die," he began weakly, "I just wanna say-" He didn't get to finish that statement as he promptly exploded.

"Sorry for slapping you." Cardinal said to her partner.

"It's fine." Wenst replied with her usual smile.

"_I wonder what he was going to say._" Palutena mused. "_Well, I don't think I'll be using the monster pheromone in the future._"

"I would hope not!" Cardinal snapped.

"_What I mean is I won't need to use it._" Palutena replied.

"Why do you say that?" Wenst asked.

"_I located the other head._" She said. "_Let's go to the lake outside of town._" the two girls headed out of the courtyard and dropped into a well. Making their way through the well, Wenst accidentally slashed at a Shulm, causing it to explode with poison gas. Cardinal pulled her friend out of the way of the toxic fumes. The two made it out of the tunnel and jumped out of the well and into another part of town with a waiting mob of Underworld forces.

"You ready?" Wenst asked.

"Yeah." Cardinal said. The part of the ambush consisted of a Minos, a Daphne, and a Komayto. Cardinal pulled out her scythe and slashed at the Komayto before slicing the Daphne in half. Wenst threw ice cards at the Minos, and attacked it and destroyed it, getting out of the way when it exploded in a flash of spines. The second wave consisted of two Ganwmedes and a Mega Mussel. Wenst came up with an idea. She pulled out an ice card and planted it on the ground. Cardinal understood what Wenst was up to, and jumped high into the air. Wenst did the same as the ice card spread across the ground, freezing the enemies, giving Cardinal and Wenst the opportunity to kill the monsters with ease. The final wave had a Stackjaw, a Syren, and a Merenguy. Cardinal quickly killed off the Merenguy as Wenst took care of the Syren before they both went leaping up and bringing their blades down on the Stackjaw, cutting it in half. With the final wave defeated, the barrier surrounding the girls dissapated and they made their way down the bridge.

"_I think we're finally close to the last Hewdraw head._" Palutena said. "_Are you ready?_"

"Anytime, anywhere." Cardinal informed. The two girls made their way through the doors and headed over to the lake to find the Hewdraw swimming in it with a completely regenerated torso. The Hewdraw rose from the lake and roared at Cardinal and Wenst.

"So, you've finished off the others, eh?" He asked.

"You know it!" Wenst proclaimed.

"Then you've saved the best for last! Let's get down to business!" Hewdraw then spat three fireballs in the direction of the girls. Cardinal and Wenst dodged them all and Wenst threw ice cards at the monsters and hit the beast square in the snout, freezing its mouth together, but soon Hewdraw broke the ice around its mouth. Cardinal got up front and personal with the great beast and slashed at its stomach. The Hewdraw then dived underwater. The Hewdraw started firing off scales that homed in on the two girls. Cardinal and Wenst slashed away at them with their swords when Cardinal noticed the floating orange orbs. That gave her an idea. The guardian told Wenst to throw her ice cards at the orbs and the maiden did as she was told, throwing the card at the orb just as the Hewdraw swam under it. The orb exploded, launching Hewdraw into the air and on the ground. Cardinal and Wenst took the opportunity to slash away at Hewdraw with their blades. Hewdraw struggled a bit, but eventually managed to get back in the lake.

"Holy Frost Divination!" Wenst performed her special attack, creating chains of ice to form around Hewdraw when he splashed back into the water. Cardinal took this chance for her final strike. Cardinal charged up her blade and jumped high in the air to perform Dusk Blade Strike and sliced Hewdraw through the stomach.

"NOW mission complete!" Cardinal said, walking away from Hewdraw's body.

"_That's another one of Medusa's commanders out of the way!_" Palutena said. Cardinal then heard a groan come from behind her and she turned to see Hewdraw, grasping onto his final breaths of life.

""Look how far you've come, Cardinal. I'm proud to have been able to battle you." The beast then fell in the water and exploded. Cardinal was silent. She didn't except that. Her enemy complimenting her.

"Huh. You usually don't meet such nice bosses." Wenst said, breaking Cardinal out of her train of thought. Suddenly, there was huge round of applause from behind the two girls. They turned around to see the town's people cheering and thanking them for saving their town from the Underworld commander. Wenst smiled and hugged Cardinal, saying they did an awesome job. That night, the town held a feast in the honor of the two warriors. Cardinal found herself a little bit happy, seeing the smiling faces of the people. Forgetting about the attack of the Underworld Army.

_This what it should be like,_ Cardinal thought. _No war. No conflict. No sadness. A place where everyone can live in harmony and peace._

**Alright! Third chapter is Done! Please and enjoy and comment and tell me if you want me to make little bonus chapters to add some funny and weird moments.**

**See y'all Laters!**

**Chapter 4:**

** Cardinal and Wenst are off on a mission to infiltrate the Reaper Fortress and find the location of one of Medusa's commanders, Pandora. This place is filled with darkness and death, a perfect place for Cardinal's Dark Magic. How will this go for our heroes? Find out next time!**


	4. The Reaper's Line of Sight

**Alright, Fourth Chapter is coming together now! Please enjoy and review and tell if there's anything you want me to add in this version of KI:U.**

**Disclaimer: I own NONE of the Kid Icarus characters, but the new people are my own creation.**

_**Last Chapter:**_

_** Teaming up with the Goddess Palutena, Cardinal and Wenst defeated another Underworld commander for Medusa, Hewdraw. Now, Cardinal and Wenst journey to the Reaper fortress on a mission to find another Underworld Commander, Pandora. Stay toon and see what happens.**_

_Chapter 4: the Reaper's Line of Sight_

Cardinal was sitting on her windowsill, reading a book in the moonlight. Two days have passed the Hewdraw attack on the village. Cardinal sighed and closed her book to look up at the moon. It was beautiful. It was the great white pearl of the night sky. Cardinal closed her eyes and thought of her family. She remembered looking up at the same moon with them when they were still alive. Her, her parents, and her brothers. They were always so happy. Then, a knock at the door snapped Cardinal out of her thoughts.

"Come in." She said and Wenst entered the room, all excited about something.

"Cardinal! Cardinal! Cardinal! You'll NEVER guess what I just learned to do!" She squealed with joy.

"OK, calm down. What's going on?" The guardian asked walking towards her friend.

"Come outside! I'll show you!" Wenst said, and before Cardinal could say anything, Wenst grabbed her hand and took her outside. Wenst let go of Cardinal's hand and took a few steps back from her. Wenst's hair then began to glow again and a cold wind blew by and swirled around the spirit maiden. Soon, the air lifted Wenst up into the air and Wenst began to fly around.

"! Whoa!" Cardinal exclaimed, amazed. "When did you have time to learn that?" She asked. Wenst giggled.

"I've been practicing since we fought Hewdraw. I practiced in secret because I wanted to surprise you!" Wenst answered.

"Well, consider me surprised." Cardinal chuckled. Soon, she took out her scythe and slammed it on the ground to create her butterfly wings. She flew up next to Wenst and the two began flying together across the sky. It felt great. Being free in the sky, there was no fleeing compared to this.

"_It seems you two are having a fun time._" The voice of Palutena came in. Cardinal and Wenst stopped and looked around. Looking for the source of the Goddess's voice.

"_No need to look for me, I'm using telepathy to talk through your minds._" The Goddess informed.

"That's cool!...In a weird sort-of way. But still! Kakkoii!" Wenst exclaimed. Cardinal just stood, floating in the air.

"What do you need, Palutena?" Cardinal asked, trying to get straight to the point. "Is there another Underworld attack?"

"No. It's not that. You see, I need you guys to go a mission to help me find another one of the Underworld Commanders."

"Another one? Who's it this time?" The guardian asked.

"The Goddess of Calamity and Disaster, Pandora." Palutena answered. Cardinal noticed that Wenst shivered up a bit when Palutena said the name "Pandora".

"Alright, where do we start?" Cardinal asked.

"You know Reapers, don't you? From the Underworld." Palutena said.

"Well, I DO have a scythe and since that is the same weapon Reapers use...yes I've heard of them." Cardinal answered.

"Ugh! I HATE Reapers!" Wenst said with a bit of fear in her voice. "They always FREAK OUT when they see you, and call out their...little minion things." Wenst tried to find the word she was looking for.

"Reapettes?" Cardinal suggested.

"Yes! Those things! They MAY look cute and cuddly, but they are evil!" Wenst said.

"Anyways, about the Reapers..." Palutena began, trying get Wenst's attention back.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Palutena." Wenst apologized

"They have a fortress near the entrance to the Underworld in Reaper Valley." The Goddess informed.

"Ha! Which is where exactly? Is it near Reaper Boulevard or Reaper Avenue?" Cardinal asked, laughing a bit. "But in all seriousness, is that where Pandora's hiding out?"

"No. She's currently residing in the Labyrinth of Deceit." Palutena explained. "However, some force in the Reaper fortress is obscuring the labyrinth's location. I can't find it, not even with my all-seeing Eye of Palutena."

"Wait," Wenst began, a bit confused. "if you have an all-seeing eye, why can't you see Pandora's location?"

"Because of my slightly botched laser eye surgery." Palutena said.

"You're messing with us, aren't you?" Cardinal asked a bit annoyed.

"Maybe." She remarked. "Regardless, your job for now is to infiltrate the Reaper Fortress!"

"On it." Cardinal said before taking off to find the fortress with Wenst following behind her.

((**LINEBREAK**))

The two girls continued flying, taking out Underworld monsters that appeared, trying to stop them. But as they continued, Wenst saw something very unusual on the horizon. They appeared to be small red lights.

"What are those red lights?" Wenst asked Cardinal as she flew closer to inspect. Cardinal also followed to get a closer look at the strange sight.

"Are they... Reaper eyes?!" Cardinal asked, and sure enough, it was a mob of Reapers. Upon spotting the guardian and the spirit maiden, the Reapers summoned their Reapettes to attack.

"This is really bad!" Wenst said as she and Cardinal began to retreat.

"_We need to find you two a safe route._" Palutena said. "_Down there is your only option!_" She said, turning Cardinal's attention to the deep ravine. Cardinal flew down into the cavern with Wenst next to her.

"_This ravine should take you to the Reaper fortress._" The Goddess began. "_But it's tight, so be careful. If you get stuck, you both won't have time to get out._" The two girls nodded and flew through the ravine, taking out any Underworld troops that crossed them. They then caught sight of a windstorm.

"Is that a windstorm up ahead?!" Cardinal asked.

"_Watch out, you guys!_" Palutena warned. Cardinal grabbed Wenst's hand and steered away from the windstorm.

"Ow!" Wenst said when the wind almost flew her back, away from Cardinal.

"_Don't be such a baby, Wenst._" Palutena said. "_It's only wind. I mean, at least it's not poison or acid wind. Then you both would be in real trouble._"

"Ooh, lucky us." came Cardinal's sarcastic reply as she and her ally flew straight into a cave.

"_Your heading into a cave now. Be careful!_" Palutena said. Outside the cave, A Mega Mussel was taking shots at Cardinal. Cardinal dispatched the creature by throwing her scythe at it, slicing it in half, and flew out the cave. The Underworld forces began to appear in a large group now.

"_There are many enemies ahead!_" came Pautena's warning.

"We'll take care of em!" Cardinal replied as she took out another scythe and let go of Wenst's hand and started fighting the Underworld monsters. Wenst helped out as well. Eventually, as the two kept flying forward, they reached a wall.

"_This looks like a dead end._" Palutena said.

"There must be a way out... Hmm..." Cardinal then began to look for an exit until she spotted a cave.

"Down there!" She pointed out.

"Let's get out of here!" Wenst said as she and Cardinal flew through the cave as the spirit maiden took out some Handoras.

"The Underworld forces really stepped up their game!" Cardinal shouted.

"_I doubt those underlings managed it on their own._" Palutena mused. "_It's a sure sign that Medusa is back in power._" Cardinal and Wenst then flew through another, longer cave.

"_You're almost there!_" Palutena said. "_3... 2... 1... Contact!_" The girls flew out of the cave and found themselves staring at the intimidating sight of the Reaper fortress. The castle was made entirely out of rock and bone. The main building itself was lined with animal skulls and massive, tusk-like structures that curved around the entire fortress. There were also two curving lines of pillars holding up what look like large vertebrae. These structures also supported two towers standing on each side of a small bridge that leads straight to the entrance of the fortress. This was the central hub where souls traveled to the was ready to fly into the castle, only to be stopped when the fortress opened fire with its many laser turrets.

"Whooaaa! It's hot hot hot here!" Wenst shouted as she tried her best to avoid the lasers.

"_There's no chance of getting in from above._" Palutena said. "_You'll have to break through the front._" Cardinal and Wenst then flew to the front gate, taking out the Reaper lookout. Running along the bridge, Cardinal got her scythe ready as Wenst ran beside her, throwing an ice card at the door, turning it completely into ice. When Cardinal for close to the door, at the right moment, she threw her scythe at the entrance, crushing the ice door as she and Wenst ran into the castle. Cardinal skidded to a stop as her wings disappeared, but unfortunately for Wenst, she ran into the wall and then fell to the ground.

"Wenst! Are you all right?" Cardinal asked, concerned, running up to her friend and helping her up.

"Never...better..." Wenst groaned as she got back up onto her feet.

"Then let's get moving." Cardinal encouraged.

"_That's right. The force obscuring Pandora is deep within this fortress._" Palutena said

"Understood." Wenst said as she began to move into the next room, but when she was about to turn the right, Cardinal pulled her back.

"Hey, what's-"

"Shh!" Cardinal hushed Wenst and peeked her head around the corner to look into another hallway where she saw a Reaper patrolling.

"_Now listen, you two,_" Palutena began. "_Reapers may look all evil and crazy, but there's a good reason for that._"

"What is it?" Wenst asked, whispering.

"_They are evil and crazy._" Palutena said.

"Of course they are." Cardinal replied.

"_But here's a little tip: They won't bother you if you stay out of their sight._" Palutena informed.

"OR we could do this..." Cardinal ran out of hiding and charged at the Reaper full force. She slashed its back, gaining its attention. The Reaper freaked out and attacked Cardinal, locking their scythe together. But Cardinal pushed the Reaper back and slashed it one more time to kill it. Wenst's mouth hung open at both Cardinal's bravery and recklessness.

"_Cardinal! Are you crazy?!_" Palutena exclaimed.

"Last time I checked...no." Cardinal answered. "Come on, Wenst, let's get moving." The guardian moved forward, with Wenst snapping out of her astonishment and running after her. The two girls then found themseves confronted by a Specknose and a Skuttler Mage. Cardinal and Wenst dispatched them, but before going any further Cardinal noticed something. Being able to use Dark Magic, she could sense beings of darkness as long as they were in a 500 meter radius. However, she couldn't feel many Reapers in the fortress, for they were pur being of darkness. That's when she said to Palutena:

"Considering this is the Reaper fortress, there really aren't many Reapers."

"_There must be a huge soul harvest going on somewhere._" Palutena replied.

"What do you mean?" Wenst asked.

"Reapers are soul carriers." Cardinal began. "When a being dies, they take its soul to the Underworld."

_"That's correct. The humans probably started another war, which means a lot more souls to deal with. "_ Palutena finished for her.

"Why are they always fighting? It's so sad and pointless." Wenst said with sorrow in her voice. The guardian nodded in agreement. Cardinal had been in the guardian business for years now. She fought and had seen humans do horrible, unimaginable things to each other when she was out of her peaceful village. Terrible, terrible things. Sometimes, she questioned why she even consider protecting, helping, and/or saving humans. Why bother doing it when they will only destroy themselves?

"_Yes, but we gods fight too,_" Palutena said. "_and when we do, humans are always caught in the middle._"

"So, this war against the Underworld Army is causing the Reapers to work overtime?" Wenst asked.

"_I'm the one who should be working overtime. Then there'd be less soul harvesting._" Palutena replied with some sadness in her tone. "_Humans get frustrated, even destructive, when we gods don't provide for their welfare._" There was silence in air as the girls continued forward, when Cardinal stopped suddenly.

"Cardinal?" Wenst asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, Palutena." Cardinal began. "I'm not one of them, but everyone loves the goddess of light. You know that for a fact. I'm not saying I hate you, I'm just...not a big fan of the Gods is all. That's it."

"_Cardinal..._"

"...A long time ago, my nation was destroyed at the hands of a selfish and greedy God. He wanted everything we had. Money, treasure, food, anything that we had of value. My father, a commander in my nation's army, stood up to him. Alone because the other warriors of our nation were too scared to fight the God."

"Who...Who was the God?" Wenst asked.

"He called himself Helios, God of the Sun. When my father stood up to him...Helios burned him alive...Helios took this as an act of rebellion and burned my nation. Everything was on fire. Everywhere people looked, the red flames danced and scorched everything they could. I woke up in a cabin, far away from my nation, but not far enough. Because when I walked out of the cabin...I saw my home, my town, my friends and family, my nation...burn to the ground..." Cardinal took a pause, to see if Wenst or Palutena would saying anything. Then she continued when there was nothing in the air.

"I called for my mom...my brothers...even my dad, because I didn't know he was dead at the time. Soon, the flames went out when it started pouring rain..."

_~10 years ago~_

((**CARDINAL'S POV**))

_ I ran down the burnt streets of my home town, looking for anyone alive. I had no luck what-so-ever. All I saw were burnt buildings, plants, and even bodies of humans and animals. I didn't care about the sight though, all I wanted to do was see my family. I came to my house, which was somehow still standing. I opened the door, which immediately crumbled to the ground in burnt pieces. I came in to see the horrific sight of my mother's body, crumpled on the ground next to the two other bodies. My brothers' bodies. They were dead. All of them. Everyone was dead. I was the only survivor of Helios's wrath. But how? How did I end up in that cabin? Did...mother put there to keep me safe? Why? Why only me? We could've all survived! Her, me, Adam, Zach, and father! Wait...Father! Where is he?! I ran to my father's room to see his body in there. Dead as well. But his burnt body looked different then my mother's and my brothers'. This one...looked like it was already burned before...like he was dead already. From being burned alive. Then my thoughts turned to when my father left all of a sudden, saying he had to do something important. For me, mother, Adam, Zach, and our nation. Did he...go to fight...Helios...?_

_"Father...Why Father?" I asked his dead corpse, with tears running down from my eyes, uncontrollably._

_ "Why? Why?! WHY?! WHY DID YOU LEAVE?! WE COULD'VE RAN AWAY FROM HELIOS TOGETHER! WE COULD'VE LIVED SOMEWHERE ELSE! WHY?! WHY DID YOU SACFRICE YOUR OWN LIFE?!" I shouted and cried and sobbed on my father's bedside. I didn't care anymore. I had no family, no friends, no home, and it was all because of Helios...that God...there are more Gods in the world...selfish...greedy...evil... Those words raced through my mind as I cried even louder. Not out of sadness, but out of anger and hatred. Then I noticed something in my father's hand. A small journal. It wasn't burned. It wasn't even scorched a little bit. I stared at it for a while when I finally reached out and slowly took from my fathers grasp. I opened it to see the pages were old and weary, but the writing on in was still visible. It was written in a foreign language that I couldn't read. But there was something I could read at the top of the first page, a few things actually. It read:_

_"__**To my darling little girl,**_

_**Cardinal Drake**_

_**Veränderung**__"_

_ I stared at the page. This was for me. This journal was for me. But why did father write in it?_

_ "Ver...änder...ung?" I tried to repeat the word, but when I did, the journal began to float on its own and the pages where flipping back and forth through it as the strange letters and symbols in it flew off the pages and swirled around me. After a while, the letters and symbols when back into the journal and the book went back into my hands. Then I noticed the purple stone on the front of the book was glowing a bit. I lightly touched it and when I did, an image of my Father appeared out of thin air._

_ "?! Father?!" _

_** "Cardinal...my darling little girl...I'm sorry...are you mad?"**__ He asked with an echo in his voice. I was crying without even realizing, but was able shake my head saying no. Though I was mad, that feeling had gone away when this...image appeared. The image of my Father smiled at me._

_** "That's a good girl. Don't let anger control you. Do not seek to kill for revenge. THAT is the way of a warrior."**__ He said. __**"I do not have much time right now, Cardinal. Take this journal. Learn the spells of Dark Magic, and unite together with fellow comrades, but not just as allies, but as friends."**_

_ "B-But...But Father...I-I don't understand. What do you mean?" I asked, almost like I was pleading._

_**"Save the world, my little bird...save it and become..." **__the image of him faded away before he had time to finish what he was going to say. I looked at the book, and hugged it tightly to my chest. I fell on my knees and began to cry once more._

_~End of Flashback~_

"Cardinal..." Wenst was speechless after hearing all of that happen. Hearing about Cardinal's past...the spirit maiden was on the verge of tears.

"...Don't you see Palutena? If you keep moping around about how this effects the humans, you're going to forget to protect them and be as bad as Helios and what he did to my nation. I don't mean to be rude, but just suck it up. Please." The guardian finished. There was silence in the air again, but then Palutena said:

"Thank you, Cardinal, I'll do my best." Palutena said. Cardinal was surprised. She didn't except Palutena to be grateful for hearing her story, but some reason, she smiled.

"Now, then, let's proceed." Cardinal said, racing forward.

"H-Hey! Wait up, Cardinal!" Wenst called as she chased after her friend.

((**LINEBREAK**))

Cardinal and Wenst traveled and fought bravely throughout the fortress. Destroying the enemies that got in their way. Soon, the two girls took the elevator down to the bottom of the fortress. They traveled to the middle hall, avoiding two guillotines as they traveled to a room that was purple lit.

"_You're closing in on the force that's obscuring Pandora's location._" Palutena informed him.

"Yeah I figured the evil lighting wasn't just for show." Cardinal said as she and her ally walked through the door. Cardinal and Wenst were then confronted by a lone Reaper. The Reaper spotted the two girls, and then a black flame then enveloped the Reaper as it began to grow to gigantic height. The flame dissipated, revealing the Reaper's true form. Its eyes were glowing green, wearing a necklace composed of skulls and green fireballs. The cloak the Reaper wore was purple and tattered, its trail ending in shadowy flames. Its skeletal feet were clearly visible, resembling the claws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The scythe the Reaper carried with him was now bigger, sharper, and more menacing.

"...No...way!" Cardinal exclaimed.

"It's gigantic!" Wenst said. "What is that thing?!"

"_That Great Reaper must be the one who's hidden Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit._" Palutena said. The Great Reaper jumped in the air to crush Cardinal and Wenst underfoot. The two girls jumped out of the way to avoid it, only for the reaper to backhand them, sending the girls flying back into a wall. The Great Reaper then fired red beams from his eyes. Cardinal got her scythe out and blocked the beams back at the Great Reader's head.

"_That Great Reaper has quite the evil eye._" Palutena said.

"How can you make puns at a time like this?!" Wenst frantically asked.

"_I guess I just don't SEE the problem with a little levity._" she remarked.

"Aw! You're killing us here!" Wenst cried out. The Great Reaper planted his scythe on the ground, sending out three crescent waves of dark energy at Cardinal. The guardian moved to the side to dodge them then threw her scythe at the Great Reader's and it planted itself in the monster's eye. The Great Reaper roared in pain and knocked Cardinal away.

"Holy Frost Divination!" Chains of ice formed around the Reaper's legs and held him in place. The reaper then summoned three reapettes to attack Wenst. Wenst slashed the Reapettes as the Great Reaper recovered, his face now sporting a deep scar in his left eye after her pulled out the scythe. It roared in anger.

Cardinal ran up to her scythe that was on the ground. She then jumped in the air and slashed down on the head of the Great Reaper. The slash caused a noticeable crack to appear on the monster's skull.

"Now, finish it!" Palutena said.

"But how?!" Cardinal asked the Goddess.

"The light coming from it's head. Strike there!" She informed her. Cardinal immediately run up the Great Reaper again. Bringing her scythe ready for the final blow, she jumped up, with a gust wind pushing her up higher. Cardinal lockdown to seethe spirit maiden helping her st higher. Cardinal smiled and then looked back at the Great Reaper with a determined look.

"Dusk Blade Strike!" Cardinal came down and impaled the Reaper in the head with her scythe. The Great Reaper screamed and flailed about in pain before he finally fell to the ground.

"All done!" Cardinal shouted.

"Alright!" Wenst cheered.

"Nice work, you two." Palutena said. The Great Reaper's body began to melt into a black, shadowy puddle. Cardinal walked away as the monster melted. She came to Wenst and gave her a high five with a smile.

"You know what, Palutena?" Cardinal began.

"What's that, Cardinal?" Palutena asked.

"Heh. Thanks for looking out for us. I don't we could've made it this far without you." The guardian answered.

"Aww! That's so sweet Cardinal!" Wenst said before tackling Cardinal for a hug.

"Wh-Whoa! Wenst!" Cardinal blushed as Wenst hugged her and they fell to the ground.

"You're so nice, Cardinal! I'm glad we're friends!" Wenst giggled.

"OK! OK! I get it! Get off me! I can't breathe!" Cardinal pleaded as she tried to get Wenst off. Wenst and Palutena laughed a bit.

"This ISN'T funny!" Cardinal yelled.

((**LINEBREAK**))

Through the image of her crystal ball, Medusa watched Cardinal and Wenst go home after their battle with the Great Reaper. Medusa was worried or fazed by Cardinal's power.

"It's simply luck that's getting the little human through all this, that's all." Medusa chuckled. "And soon, Pandora will take care of her and her little maiden as well..." Medusa laughed.

**OHMYGOD! 3,937 WORDS?! HOLY CRAP I WRITE A LOT!**

**Anyways, thank you all who read and write and review or comment about what you think of the story so far.**

**See Ya'll Laters!**

**Chapter 5:**

** Cardinal and Wenst go off to find Pandora, the Goddess of Disaster and Calamity, in the Labyrinth of Deceit. The problem is there are all kinds of twists and turns, puzzles and problems, and confusion everywhere the two girls go. Will these two warriors be able to make through the trials and riddles to defeat Pandora, or are there more surprises on the way?**

**Stay toon!**


	5. Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit

** Time for another story to be put up! Hope all of you who are reading this like KID ICARUS: SHADOW UPRISING and want me to continue and create little bonus chapters. Please let me know if you anything additional to happen to the new characters or the old ones from KI. Alright, enough dialogue, let's start the story.**

_**Last Chapter:**_

_** Cardinal and Wenst infiltrated the Reaper Fortress, not only defeating the Great Reaper, but also learning about Cardinal's past and what happened to her family. Now, our heroes are heading for the Labyrinth of Deceit to find one of Medusa's commanders, Pandora, the Goddess of Disaster. Will they stop whatever threat Pandora poses, or will there be even more surprises waiting the two young warriors? Find out now!**_

_Chapter 5: Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit_

_ ..._

_Free..._

_ ...?.._

_Free...dom..._

_ Who's...Who's there?..._

_...Crystal...seal...break...Freedom..._

_ 'Freedom'? Is that what you want?_

_Fre...e...do...m... ... ... .. . . ._

Cardinal slowly woke up from her strange dream. It didn't startle her, nor did it worry her. However, it made her curious of who was asking for freedom. The guardian crawled out of bed and put her robe over her night gown. She went to the kitchen to get some milk. Cardinal walked over to her refrigerator and poured herself a glass. She yawned and took a sip of her drink. She started making breakfast for herself and Wenst, eggs and bacon. For Wenst, she added pepper spices because, for some reason, Wenst liked spicy foods, despite using cold powers. Wenst soon woke up as well to the smell of food. Cardinal served them their plates and the two girls sat down at the table and ate their breakfast.

"How'd you sleep, Cardinal?" Wenst asked, taking a bite of her eggs.

"Fine. How about you?"

"Great! I sleep like a rock." Cardinal chuckled.

"I guess that would make sense since last night when we went to the Reaper Fortress." She said.

"Yeah. I'm wondering when Palutena will send us out to find Pandora." Wenst wondered.

"I'm going to guess soon." Cardinal shrugged.

"_And you are correct!_" The voice of Palutena boomed in.

"Morning, Palutena!" Wenst exclaimed.

"Morning." Cardinal simply said before chewing on some bacon.

"_When you guys are done eating and getting dressed, we need to head for the Labyrinth where Pandora is hiding. You guys up for it?_" The Goddess asked.

"You bet." Cardinal replied, after swallowing her bacon.

((**LINEBREAK**))

Cardinal and Wenst got ready for their mission and flew off into the air and through the sky, heading in the direction Palutena told them to go.

"_Your destination is Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit._" Palutena said. "_The Reapers certainly hid it well._"

"What are you talking about?" Wenst asked. "I don't see anything." The two girls really didn't know what they were looking for. Fortunately they didn't have to wait long as suddenly a dimensional rift began to form in the sky.

"Whoa!" Cardinal shouted as she stared into the strange tear in space.

"_And here we have a space pocket._" Palutena said. "_In you go!_"

"O-OK!" came Cardinal's and Wenst's hesitant replies as they flew into the strange, dimensional void. Once inside...the two girls really didn't know what to make of it. The inside was swriling green and would occasionally change color and shape. Underworld monsters and Monolinths seemed to fly in random patterns.

"This is getting weird..." Cardinal said.

"_You'd have to be pretty out there to base your operations in a place like this._" Palutena said.

"Well, hasn't Pandora always been pretty out there?" Cardinal asked.

"_It's true. The goddess of calamity even looks pretty out there._" Palutena said. "_I guess it's no surprise that the path to her would be as twisted as she is._"

"Twisted?" Wenst asked. "What do you mean?"

"_You'll soon see._" Palutena warned. Cardinal and Wenst continued flying through the strange void until they came across a tunnel of some sort.

"What's that?" The spirit maiden asked.

"_Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit!_" Palutena replied. The warriors flew into the tunnel and found themselves in an even stranger place. The labyrinth seemed littered with strange, geometrical shapes and square shaped holes everywhere.

"Whoa!" Wenst said.

"This is not what I expected." Cardinal remarked. This place seemed to cause the Underworld monsters to act even stranger. Sometimes they would combine into one different monster or fly in random patterns. Cardinal wasn't deterred by this and started attacking the monsters with her scythe.

"_You have to watch out for those red posts._" Palutena said. Seeing the red posts up ahead, Cardinal and Wenst dodged them with some skilled flying. But their celebration didn't last as they flew straight into a wall.

"This is crazy!" Wenst said as she recovered.

"Tricky, tricky." Cardinal replied.

"_A false path... Pandora is trying to psyche you out._" Palutena warned.

"How does Pandora come up with this stuff?" Wenst asked as she and Cardinal flew to the right.

"_Messing with people is what she does best._" Dodging more Underworld monsters and red posts, the girls unfortunately came across another false path.

"Not again." Cardinal growled.

"_Uh-huh. Another psych out._" Palutena said. The guardian and spirit maiden flew to the left and eventually came to a triangular tunnel. They flew down through the tunnel, going through one of the three doors that would occasionally open.

"_The path branches up ahead._" Palutena said. "_Tell you what-I'll let you decide which way to go this time._"

"Does that mean you don't know the way?" Wenst asked.

"Go right!" Cardinal shouted. On instinct, she and her partner veered to the right. However, this proved to be the wrong choice as they flew into a dead end.

"This is a dead end!" Cardinal shouted.

"_Looks like you're trapped._" Palutena said. Cardinal and Wenst took out the four Syrens and flew out the door.

"_Pulling you out of there!_" Palutena said. The girls flew to the left this time and found themselves in a larger tunnel with rotating walls.

"_Oh my!_" Palutena gasped.

"We can't let her get to us!" Cardinal said. "We have to hustle before something serious happens!"

"_That would be...problematic._" Palutena began. "_You see, I can't extract you two if Pandora's powers are still active._"

"I'll just pretend you didn't say that!" Wenst quickly said. They girls then managed to fly out of the tunnel and into a large room.

"_It's a Handora ambush!_" Palutena said.

"Wha-?! It's Pandora time already?!" Wenst asked.

"No, no, Wenst, she said Handora." Cardinal began. "You know, the...hand...

monster..."

"For a master of deceit, that's pretty weak!" Wenst replied. The girls destroyed the Handoras. Eventually a hole opened in the floor.

"A way out!" Wenst shouted.

"_Now's your chance!_" Palutena said. Cardinal and Wenst flew into the hole but soon found themselves... outside?

"Wait a second... we're outside now?" Cardinal asked, completely confused.

"_This could be another trick..._" Palutena said.

"But it all seems so real..." Wenst said. And indeed it looked, felt, sounded, and smelled like the two girls were outside. But that's when everything suddenly went dark. It only lasted for a few seconds before the lights came back on and Cardinalienable and Wenst found themselves back in the Labyrinth.

"Well, this is confusing." Wenst said.

"It isn't called the Labyrinth of Deceit for nothing, Wenst." Cardinal said.

"The name is the only straightforward thing about this place!" Wenst said. The two girls giggled a little at the small joke and soon continued their journey.

"_The path branches again._" Came Palutena's warning.

"Let's try left!" Wenst suggested, earning a nod from Cardinal. The two veered to the left. But unfortunately it turned out to be the wrong choice.

"Ugh, don't tell me this is a dead end!" Wenst complained.

"_Let's go back._" Palutena said. The girls flew to the right only to find that it too was a dead end, much to Cardinal's growing frustration.

"Is this a dead end?" She asked.

"_Yes...? No...? Uh..._" Palutena replied, also growing frustrated and confused.

"We're losing our grip here!" Wenst shouted as they flew through the hall, taking out more Underworld monsters.

"_No, I just need to think._" Palutena said.

"Could you think a little faster please?" Cardinal asked as she and Wenst flew into another room, one filled with crystal pillars.

"_I'm...I'm getting a handle on things now._" Palutena said. "_OK, watch out of the columns around you. They'll reflect your attacks!_" Cardinal threw her scythe at enemies and it came back to her like a boomerang while Wenst summoned a blizzard to destroy the remaining enemies. The girls made it out of the room and now found themselves... in outer space?

"_O...K..._" Palutena said.

"Ugh, this is hurting my head." Cardinal whined.

"_I believe we're close to our target._" Palutena said.

"Then let's do this!" Cardinal said as she landed on a jump pad. The jump pad hurled both her and Wenst into a boulder, but instead of slamming into it, they found themselves in black room with a grid-like design. The warriors flew through the tunnel and to their destination.

"_We're nearing the landing spot._" Palutena said.

"You're sure it's not another illusion, right?" Cardinal asked. The two girls landed. But then the ground flipped upside down, knocking Cardinal and Wenst to the ground and in front of a door. The two got back onto their feet and walked into the room and were attacked by two Skuttler Cannoneers and a Bluster. They defeated them all, but before the warriors could proceed, they were stopped by a female voice.

"_Quite the thrill seekers, aren't you?_" it asked.

"You must be Pandora, goddess of calamity!" Cardinal said.

"_We let ourselves in. Hope you don't mind._" Palutena said.

"_Oh, please._" Pandora replied in a jaded tone. "_Make yourselves at home. Doesn't bother me. But you should know the whole 'goddess of calamity' was really the old me. The new me leads a more grounded life. Yoga, macrobiotics, reflexology..._ "

"Don't you need feet for that?" Wenst asked.

"_How dare you take that tone with me?!_" came the offended reply. "_Especially since calamity is really more your domain these days!_"

"Uh..." Cardinal began, but she didn't really know how to respond to that.

"_It's really quite insulting._" Pandora said. Cardinal and Wenst looked at each other and shrugged as they moved forward onto the next room. The girls found themselves surrounded by five doors.

"There're so many doors..." Wenst said.

"And I'm sure there are just as many tricks." Cardinal warned.

"_Uh, no doy._" Pandora said, her tone filled with sarcasm. Cardinal told Wenst to wait for a second as she went to the first door on her left, only to return back in the same room through another door.

"What?!"

"_You're back where you started._" Palutena said. She went to the second door on the left and the same thing happened.

"Ugh, not again!" Cardinal said.

"_You seem to have a thing for this room._" Pandora said. Wenst couldn't help but giggle a bit. Cardinal went to the third door and it hit her in the face, knocking her to the ground.

"_That's one of the oldest tricks in the book._" Palutena said with a small chuckle. Cardinal growled in frustration, her face beet red. She was humiliating herself. Cardinal finally got it right when she went through the fourth door and into another set of doors. Cardinal waved at Wenst to come over and the spirit maiden followed as the guardian went straight through the fourth door and into a different room. There they were confronted by an Underworld Girin. Cardinal slashed the Grin when it came up from the ground and killed it. Moving to the next hall, the girls noticed its walls were moving.

"Where are we?" Cardinal asked.

"_The Hall of Marvelous Moving Walls._" Palutena replied.

"_Your delivery stinks._" Pandora said. "_Say it with feeling. This isn't public radio, you know._" Cardinal and Wenst went into another hallway with moving walls.

"_Be careful with that moving wall._" Palutena replied.

"_We've got a delicious Cardinal Saltimbocca on the menu today._" Pandora said. Cardinal and Wenst made it out of the room and into another room with the wall moving behind them.

"Um... So, what's up with the walls in here?" Wenst asked.

"_Watch them carefully, and try to time your movements._" Palutena said. Following the goddess's advice, Cardinal took Wenst's hand and made it out of the room and into what appeared to be a driving course of some sort. In the middle of the room, he saw a beetle-like vehicle with three horns.

"_Look! An Exo-Tank!_" Palutena said.

"Now THAT is one heavenly ride!" Wenst exclamed, running towards the car.

"_Technically, it's a vehicle of the gods._" Palutena corrected her. "_Why don't you take it for a spin?_" Wenst nodded and jumped in the Exo Tank. She hit the gas and the vehicle went crazy fast. Wenst had a hard time getting control of the machine when she suddenly hit the brakes and stopped right next to Cardinal. She looked at Cardinal and the spirit maiden blushed a bit, embarrassed.

"Here. I'll show you how it's done." Cardinal said. Wenst got out as Cardinal jumped into the vehicle of the gods. Cardinal floored the gas pedal and the machine went crazy! She zoomed through the parking lot in the labyrinth, taking out the Underworld enemies that got in her way. As the guardian passed by a couple times, Wenst could see a smile on Cardinal's face. She was enjoying herself so much.

_ Sugosugiru...she's so...awesome,_ Wenst thought, _her eyes always light up when she's in a fight or when she's enjoying herself...She's calm, cool, collected...and knows what to do at every right moment...Cardinal..._

Wenst felt herself blush, but smiled when she saw Cardinal pull up in the Exo Tank and smile at her friend. The guardian jumped out.

"So, how'd I do?" Cardinal asked.

"That was awesome, Cardinal! I've never EVER seen anything like it!" Wenst exclaimed, still blushing. Cardinal smiled.

"That reminds me..." Cardinal began. "Palutena, what are we doing here again? Well, taking out Pandora." She asked the Goddess.

"_Pandora has the Anarchic Crystal, making her Medusa's most valuable commander._" Palutena said.

"Uh, what's the Anarchic Crystal?" Wenst asked.

"_I'll bet smarty pants here knows the answer._" Pandora said.

"_Long ago, a kingdom ruled across the Earth and was lead by a queen known as the Queen of Chaos. The humans stood up to her a sealed her soul forever in the crystal, hoping that she'll never be awoken. With her soul inside the gem, the Anarchic Crystal had the ability to copy objects of complete chaos, and make them twice as powerful._" Palutena said.

"So, hypothetically speaking, it could turn one chili pepper into two?" Wenst asked. Cardinal groaned a bit.

"_And that's why you're one of the great minds of our time._" Pandora said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"_It copies what's in your heart and creates beings identical in nature, only much worse._" Palutena began. "_So what Pandora possesses is a way to create monsters on a catastrophic scale._"

"_That's one way of looking at things._" Pandora said.

"Then it has the potential to make entire armies for Medusa." Cardinal said. "We have to destroy it! But wait... Does the crystal copy the reflection's soul too? Or just the body?"

"_That's a good question._" Palutena said. "_Maybe Pandora will tell us._"

"_Do I look like a strategy guide?_" Pandora asked. "_In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the Ask Auntie Pandora' hour!_"

"She makes a good point, especially when she yells." Wenst said. Using a jump pad, the girls got out of the parking lot and into a circular room with rotating orange platforms.

"Whoa, how do we deal with this?" Wenst asked.

"First, get a sense for the timing." Cardinal began, taking Wenst's hand. "Then use jumps or dashes to make your way across."

"_Having fun there?_" Pandora taunted.

"_Pandora certainly has.. interesting ideas about interior design._" Palutena whispered.

"_Rude rude rude._" Pandora said. "_You don't see me breaking into your home and criticizing your style. I mean, marble columns? Really? How gauche!_" The girls hopped along the orange platforms, but when they got to the last ones, Wenst noticed that they were in the shape of letters.

"_Those orange platforms seem to spell something._" Palutena said.

"Ooh, ooh! Like a secret message! Can you decode it?" Wenst asked.

"It says...P-A-N...D-O-R-A... It...doesn't seem like there's much to decode here." Palutena replied.

"Well, that was a letdown." Cardinal shrugged.

"_You're just jealous of my knack for interior design and my flair for spelling._" Pandora said.

"Yes. I'll never have powers like yours." Cardinal remarked with obvious sarcasm. The warriors made it out of the room and into a small hallway. As they moved toward the exit, the exit seemed to move further away.

"Uh...what's this?!" Wenst asked. "The exit's moving away!"

"_Maybe you should stop running in place then._" Pandora remarked. Cardinal then came up with an idea. Cardinal told Wenst to freeze the ground while she and Wenst were in the air. Wenst nodded and did what she was told to do. When they landed on the now icy floor, Wenst and Cardinal hooked arms with each other and Wenst sent a gust of wind out of her hands so she and Cardinal could get to the other side of the room. When they went through the door the room seemed normal, until Cardinal stepped on the green part of the floor and bounced upward, causing her to cry out in surprise.

"I guess it's bouncy time." Wenst said, joining Cardinal on the bouncy floor.

"_I thought trampolines would add a touch of whimsy to my humble abode._" Pandora said.

"_But you can't even use them!_" Palutena pointed out.

"_So what?_" Pandora said. "_I thought it would be fun to watch people bounce around on them. And I was right! Even though this is the first time someone's made it this far._"

"Well," Wenst began. "There's another achievement to throw up next to 'Slaying Pandora'!"

"_Don't make me throw up._" Pandora said. The girl navigated through the trampoline room. Halfway through, they entered a room with three treasure boxes. Cardinal moved near the middle one, only for it to sprout legs and kick her.

"Check out this treasure box!" Cardinal Shouted, regaining balance to stand.

"_Say hello to Mimicutie!_" Pandora said.

"_Aw, who's a Mimicutie?_" Palutena said.

"Not the time, Palutena!" Cardinal growled.

"_It's been dying for some company._" Pandora said.

"Thanks, but no thanks!" Cardinal said as she sliced off the Mimicutie's girls then made their way through the trampoline room and ended up in what appeared to be a racetrack of sorts.

"_This must be some sort of Exo-Tank racetrack._" Palutena said. "_You might as well try it out since your here._" Cardinal and Wenst raced around the track, Cardinal driving and Wenst in the back seat, holing on for dear life. The Exo Tank was taking out Underworld Leoxes that were in the way of its blasters.

"_A ramp has appeared next to the starting point. Take it up to move forward._" Palutena informed.

"You know we appreciate your help, Palutena," Wenst began, "but we would be totally fine without all this hand-holding too."

"_That's right._" Pandora began. "_Hand-holding is strictly prohibited here. Not to be rude, but I have to project a certain aura of toughness._"

"We understand. Rules of being a boss." Cardinal said. Cardinal drove the ramp up to the exit. Getting out of the Exo-Tank, the girls exited the racetrack room and entered another room. Only this time, there was no way forward.

"Is this a dead end?" Pit asked.

"_Hmm. I guess you'd better turn back._" Pandora said.

"No, it's a trick. There's an invisible path you can walk on." Palutena interjected.

"Do you have to ruin everything?" Pandora complained. "Honestly now." Cardinal slashed downward with her scythe, briefly revealing a path. The guardian and spirit maiden navigated through the room, slashing downward in front of them to see where he was going. Eventually, they made it to the end of the room.

"_Pandora is just up ahead._" Palutena said. "_It's time for you to destroy the_ _Anarchic Crystal !_"

The girls entered the large room. The room was barren, save for the large emerald-colored jewel floating there for all to see.

"That must be the Anarchic Crystal." Cardinal said.

_...Crystal...seal...break...Freedom..._

Cardinal heard a voice. It was the same voice form her dream she had before. The guardian slowly walked up to the large gem. Only to have, coming out from behind the crystal, what was a large ball of blue flame. On top of her head she wore a halo-like object, giving her the appearnce of having hair tied in a ponytail. She had pink eyes and a set of fangs.

"You made it. Yay." Pandora said.

"Pandora!" Cardinal shouted. Before Cardinal was going to charge at Pandora, Wenst stopped her and whispered something in the guardian's ear.

"...No." Cardinal answered.

"Please?" Wenst pleaded with adorable anime eyes.

"...Fine, but just this once!" Cardinal said. Wenst smiled and started out by saying:

"Underling of Medusa floating before us!"

"It's time for you to atone for your crimes!" Cardinal said next while doing a unison hairflip with Wenst.

"I am Wenst Colo! Spirit Maiden of the North Shrine!"

"And I am Cardinal Drake! Guardian of the hidden village!"

"And you! Are! History!" The two girls shouted in unison while striking poses. The rally cry was meant to scare Pandora. However, the rally cry was met with silence from both Palutena and Pandora, with the latter even blinking a few times.

"_What was that all about?_" Palutena asked.

"It was her idea!" Cardinal said, pointing at Wenst.

"You agreed to do it!" Wenst countered.

"Ok, whatever." Pandora said. "Do what you're gonna do."

"What kind of attitude is that to have?" Cardinal asked. "I can take anything but indifference."

"What's the point of getting worked up?" Pandora asked. "What's the point of anything, really?"

"Quite an existentialist view for a ball of vapor." Wenst said. Cardinal immediately charged on Pandora with her weapon of darkness. Pandora dodged the slash by sinking into the ground with only the top portion of her head remaining upwards. Pandora moved toward Cardinal and shot upwards, knocking her to the ground. It looked like the goddess of calamity wasn't going to make this too easy. Pandora leaped up to crush Cardinal underneath when Wenst threw ice cards at her and knocked the goddess back away from her friend. Cardinal rolled back onto her feet and slashed again and managed to hit her mark. Pandora retaliated by spitting out several fireballs. Cardinal ran out of the way as Wenst slashed away at the fireballs with her blade that was now pure, cold ice. Then Wenst threw another card at Pandora.

"OK, OK. I'll give you what you came for." Pandora said as she teleported to the gem "Here it is. The Anarchic Crystal." The green jewel seemed to shine with an ethereal glow, blinding the girls.

"_Cardinal! Wenst! You have destroy that crystal!_" Palutena ordered. Cardinal threw her scythe at the gem, slicing it sideways. When the crystal shattered, dark blackish-green smoke flew out, and swarmed around the room. Soon, the smoke landed in the center of the room and took the form of girl that looked about Cardinal's age. Her light green hair, which was the same color of her eyes, was up in a firework bun, and she had bangs and stripes of hair hanging over her pointy ears. She wore a silver crown with 3 dark green gems on it. She wore a black choker with small dark green gem hanging from it. She wore a green and black dress with black sleeves and tights with green boots. She had wings that were white into the middle and faded into green to the tips. She looked around and then smiled and said:

"Hey there." Her voice was deep but not too deep.

"What the...? Who are...?" Cardinal was at a loss for words

"Let's get right to introductions." Pandora said as she floated near the winged girl. "This here is Elizabeth, the Queen of Chaos from long ago, and presently the newest commander of the Underworld Army. She'll be your escorts out of your lives." But that's when something interesting happened. The queen backhanded Pandora in response.

"Speak for yourself." She said, summoning her staff.

"You fool!" Pandora shouted, turning red. "You were awoken to serve me! Your opponents are over there!"

"You're a boss, Pandora, but you're not my boss!" Elizabeth shouted as she fired energy orbs from her staff at the goddess. As the two fought, Cardinal and Wenst watched from the side, shocked by the events that had taken place just moments ago.

"Wait, so releasing Elizabeth Pandora's plan all along?" Wenst asked Palutena.

"_Having a queen under your control can come in handy."_ Palutena said. "_And she's quite the little scrapper, isn't she? Use her scrappitude to your advantage and take down Pandora together._" Wenst immediately took out his ice cards and threw them at Pandora. The cards hit, but Pandora simply laughed as they burned up, not affecting the goddess.

"The Anarchic Crystal is just that. It releases chaos. It seems that under that beautiful veneer of yours, Elizabeth, you're actually quite ferocious."

"You don't know anything about me." Elizabeth said as she fired several more shots from her staff. Cardinal took out aanother scythe and ran up to Pandora and slashed downward. The combined of both physical and magical attacks overwhelmed her and she let out a shrill scream before exploding.

"And that's that!" Cardinal shouted.

"...Took you long enough." Elizabeth said with a scoff. She then disappeared into thin air and reappeared next to Wenst and smacked the spirit maiden in the head with her staff. Hard. Wenst fell to the ground and fell unconscious.

"Wenst! Why would you-?!" Cardinal was interrupted when she saw Elizabeth's staff growling green and charging up with energy. Elizabeth then pointed her weapon at Cardinal and shouted:

"Talisman Omni Beam!" A great blast of green energy was fired from the staff and hit Cardinal, knocking her back onto the ground.

"_Cardinal! Wenst!_" Palutena exclaimed, concerned.

"THAT'S for waking me up and destroying my crystal!" Elizabeth said to Cardinal's body. The queen walked away a few feet before hearing Cardinal groaning, and struggling to get bco onot her feet. Elizabeth looked back at the fallen guardian and chuckled.

"What's so...funny?" Cardinal growled.

"That you think that you can defeat. That's a laugh. It was only luck that the humans from long ago were able to seal me away. Unfortunately, YOU won't be so lucky." Elizabeth ran to the remains of Pandora and jumped through them, absorbing the remaining power of the Goddess of Calamity.

"_What are you doing?!_" Palutena asked.

"Just making sure Pandora's powers don't go to waste!" Elizabeth said. Then her wings glowed green and she flew off through a portal she opened and left the Labyrinth of Deceit.

"No..." Cardinal was able to mumble. She finally managed to rise to her feet and walk over to Wenst and wake her up. Wenst rubbed the back of her head and asked Cardinal if there was anything she missed. Cardinal explained what happened to her partner and all Wenst did was looked down at herself looking...sad and ashamed.

"_There's no time to waste! If Elizabeth has Pandora's powers, she could be allied with Medusa. We need to follow her._" Palutena said as she extracted the two girls from the now abandoned Labyrinth.

**Whoa! Tons of twists and turns there! And I'm not just talking about the Labyrinth!**

**Sorry, thought that would be funny to say.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter and please stay toon for the next one!**

**Enjoy, favorite, and comment!**

**See ya'll Laters!**

**Chapter 6:**

** Cardinal and Wenst hunt down Elizabeth, the Queen of Chaos from long ago. Only to have the Underworld Army after her too. Will Elizabeth join the Underworld, will the queen team up with our heroes, or will she make her own path in life on her own?**

**Find out next time!**


	6. Elizabeth, Queen of Chaos

**Trying to get as many chapters out as I can before winter break comes and I get to see my relatives. Can't wait to see them after so long!**

**Anyways, lets get started on the story.**

_**Last chapter:**_

_** Cardinal and Wenst made it to the Labyrinth of Deceit and confronted Pandora, the Goddess of Calamity. Shattering the Anarchic Crystal, Cardinal released the Queen of Chaos from imprisonment. After defeating Pandora, Elizabeth took the goddess's remaining power and took off, leaving our heroes to hunt her down. Will they be able to handle the Ruler of Ruin? **_

_**Find out now!**_

_Chapter 6: Elizabeth, the Queen of Chaos_

"_I've located Elizabeth!_" Palutena shouted as Cardinal and Wenst flew through the sky faster then usual.

"Where is she?!" Cardinal asked. She wouldn't have to look hard as Elizabeth attacked from below, wielding her staff. Dodging her shots, Cardinal tried to land a hit on the queen with her own weapon. The queen dodged her attack and the two locked weapons for a second before the queen flew away.

"Look who finally caught up!" Elizabeth said with a chuckle.

"What is your problem?" Cardinal asked as she gave chase, with Wenst trying to keep up with Cardinal. Cardinal slashed and slashed when she got close to Elizabeth, but her attacks would miss when Elizabeth swiftly and gracefully dodged the edge of the the scythe. Cardinal growled as she heard Elizabeth snicker in amusement. Eventually their chase ended up in a tornado.

"Are you with the Underworld Army? Is that why you have it out for us?" Cardinal asked.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Elizabeth replied. "I just don't like the idea of people copying my act!"

"What?! But you should be fighting them with us!" Cardinal replied.

"Come on now, think about it!" Elizabeth said. "If I wanted to work with weaklings like you, why did I kick your butts?" Cardinal didn't say anything but kept flying forwards to keep the heat on Elizabeth. Eventually, their chase led out of the clouds and closer to the surface. That's when she caught the unfortunate sight of the Underworld Army.

"Great. Now the Underworld Army's here too." Cardinal said as she told Wenst to get ready. The two girls began taking out Underworld monsters, but still kept a look out for Elizabeth.

"_You're a real go-getter, Elizabeth. I like that._" Came the smooth voice of Medusa.

"_Is that so?_" Elizabeth asked, with a not-caring tone in her voice.

"_Yes._" Medusa replied "_Though I am curious how you plan to best your rivals. Of course, destroying Cardinal and the little maiden would be a snap with a little help from me._"

"Don't make me laugh." Elizabeth said, almost chuckling.

"_Did I say something funny?_" Medusa asked.

"You've just got me confused with the other two." Elizabeth began. "This girl's not the one to TAKE orders. I'll take care of them. But only after I've finished you for good!" And the queen began to take out some Underworld enemies with Cardinal and Wenst in hot pursuit.

"_Hmm..._" Medusa began. "_Now this is a little... bizarre._"

"I know, right?" Wenst said. "The mouth on her! NO ONE should ever talk like that."

"_That's not exactly what I meant._" Medusa said.

"_Sorry._" Palutena replied. "_She can be a little thick._"

"_Elizabeth is the Queen of Chaos, the Bringer of Destruction, and the Ruler of Ruin. I thought the Underworld Army would please her, and she would join us._" Medusa pondered.

"_Hmm...Maybe because she's a queen, she doesn't feel like she should be the one to take commands from someone else._" Palutena guessed.

"_That WOULD make sense._" Medusa said.

"So if Elizabeth isn't with the Underworld Army..." Wenst began to ask. "Does this mean that we don't have to fight her?"

"_The problem is that Elizabeth is fundamentally wicked and destructive._" Palutena said.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Cardinal replied.

"_She will attack anything._" Palutena said.

"She does seem pretty aggro." Cardinal mused.

"_Her very existence is unnatural. She must be eliminated._" Palutena said.

"OK!" Cardinal replied, not hesitating at all. And the girls continued their pursuit of the chaotic queen come back to the world. But as they flew through the rocky canyon region, Wenst couldn't help but think about something. With the Anarchic Crystal destroyed, Medusa's forces should have dwindled. But instead, it seemed that her forces grew even larger. Wenst then eventually asked:

"Let me get this straight. The Anarchic Crystal was replicating monsters and making stronger versions of them. So, now that it's broken, the Underworld Army can't generate new troops, right?"

"_If that were the case, their numbers would be shrinking. But that's not happening._" Palutena replied.

"Then where else could Medusa be getting her reinforcements from?" Wenst asked.

"_I really don't know._" Palutena said. "_But there's something very strange about them._"

"Like their faces?" Wenst asked.

"_I'm talking more about their interior._" Palutena replied "_Specifically, their souls._"

"So how do we get to the bottom of this?"

"_Well, one thing's for certain._" Palutena began. "_Medusa's the source of all this trouble. But Elizabeth presents the more immediate threat. For now, just keep the heat on her._" Wenst nodded and followed Cardinal as the guardian chased Elizabeth through a rocky pass.

"_So you three defeated Pandora, hmm?_" Medusa asked.

"Of course!" Wenst proclaimed, looking at Cardinal, realizing that her friend was too focused on taking out Elizabeth.

"_You don't seem too upset that we took out one of your top commanders, Medusa._" Palutena said.

"_Pandora may be gone, but her powers live on in the queen._" She replied.

"Another astute observation from the supreme leader of the Underworld." Came the sarcastic reply from Elizabeth.

"_My, aren't you prickly._" Medusa replied, unfazed. "_But you did absorb Pandora's and I'm interested to see what you can do._"

"You'll have to wait and see like everyone else." Elizabeth said with a smirk as she flew over and manning a Zurret.

"Look over there!" Cardinal shouted.

"_What's she doing with that?!_" Palutena asked.

"Using us for target practice!" Wenst shouted as she grabbed Cardinal's hand and ducked behind a rock to avoid the Zurret's shots.

"_Not bad, not bad!_" Medusa laughed, amused by the scene. Cardinal pulled out her scythe and threw it so it landed the Zurret square in the eye, killing it instantly. Elizabeth growled and flew away with Cardinal and Wenst once again in pursuit. The girls then came upon what appeared to be ruins of some sort.

"What is that place?" Wenst asked.

"_They look like ruins of some sort._" Palutena answered.

"We'd better land soon." Cardinal said.

"_And I'd better get started on deploying my troops._" Medusa said.

"Come on!" Wenst complained. "Is that really necessary?!" The two girls landed in through ruins. Looking around, Cardinal noticed that entire place looked like...remains of some kind-of palace. Cardinal and Wenst went deeper into the ruins of the destroyed palace, being very careful in case anything was going to collapse and fall their heads. They soon came to an altar room, and saw the Queen of Chaos herself there, in front of the destroyed altar. Cardinal was about to walk up quietly and finish Elizabeth in one shot, but was stopped when the queen spoke.

"You know, you two are really starting to become real thorns in my side, and I guess the only way teach you not to mess with me is through force." She said. She made her staff appear in from thin air, and turned around to face the two girls.

"But before we do finish this little game...allow me say a few things." Cardinal growled, but then said:

"Fine, what is it you wanna say?" Elizabeth then began to talk while looking around.

"This palace...it was once my home, but that was many centuries ago. I see the humans were finally able to steal all that was of value. Not bad, I must say." Elizabeth then turned back to face the altar. She brush some of the dirt and pebbles off the table to reveal writing in the language of her people. She began to read it in english.

"_'Centuries of frozen time around them_

_ The Ruler of Ruin will rise again to vanquish their foes_

_ Bringing nothing but their desires to the Earth alive_

_ The choices of the ruler will be trials_

_ Only then will that being become the Bringer of Destruction and Ruler of Ruin...'_...That is the prophecy of my people. For eons, the People of Chaos have fought to take the land, bringing humans, even many gods, to there knees in defeat. But soon, the humans united together and brought us down. Sealing me away." Elizabeth turned back around and got her staff ready.

"Bring it on!" She shouted. Cardinal charged, attempting to slash at her midsection. The queen avoided this by taking to the air and summoning a stream of arrows downward on Cardinal. Knowing what was coming next, the guardian did several backflips as a rain of arrows came down. Cardinal didn't have time to celebrate as Elizabeth dived at her. Cardinal tried jump over her, but Elizabeth was too fast and grabbed Cardinal and rammed into a stone wall that crumbled. Wenst ran over to see if Cardinal was alright, when she suddenly step on a magic circle, hidden in the floor. Green chains wrapped around the spirit maiden's body, immobilizing her.

Elizabeth flew out of the other room and into the open air, holding Cardinal by her ankle. She flew up highed and higher above a canyon outside the palace ruins. She held out Cardinal, waiting for the right moment to drop her into the abyss. The queen smirked and laughed as Cardinal struggled to get free.

_Such a pathetic little creature. It's a shame. She was actually somewhat of a challenge,_ Elizabeth thought

Elizabeth then let go of the guardian and watched her fall to her doom. Cardinal tried to activate her wings, but Elizabeth fired a blocking spelling, disabling Cardinal's Power of Flight. Cardinal cursed under breath as she fell. Was this really the end? Was it all over for her? Cardinal snapped her eyes open with determination and took out her scythe and hooked onto one on the canyon's rocky walls. Elizabeth saw this and growled as flew down to finish the guardian when Cardinal's scythe began to carve up with power. Elizabeth's staff then charged up power as well.

" Talisman Omni..." Elizabeth began

"Dusk Blade..." Cardinal began as well. There silence in air for a second.

"Beam!" "Strike!" The two girl shouted in unison as Elizabeth fired attack at Cardinal and Cardinal charged at the queen with her scythe. The guardian blocked the beam and tried to keep it up as the beam pushed her back. Cardinal soon found the strength inside her and pushed the beam away. Elizabeth gasped in surprise as the beam disappeared and Cardinal attack her with everything she had. Slashing the queen's wing, Cardinal heard Elizabeth screamed in pain and fell to her doom in the abyss. Cardinal landed on a ledge and watched the queen fall into darkness. She breathed heavily after what just happened. Finally, the job was done, for now. Cardinal knew Elizabeth wasn't dead. She wasn't human like Cardinal or Wenst. She'd be back, and Cardinal knew that for a fact.

**Whoa! Intense chapter here! Well at the end it was. For all you who have read the story and really like Elizabeth, you're just going have to wait and see what happens.**

**Thank you for reading and comment too.**

**See ya'll Laters!**

**Next Chapter:**

** Cardinal and Wenst head out to find the God of Death, Tanatos, to take the key to the Underworld, so they can finish Medusa. However, Wenst is feeling a little down, and Cardinal doesn't know why when they arrive at the Seafloor Palace. What will happen?**

**Find out next time!**


	7. The Seafloor Palace

** Hoping this chapter will be a big hit like the others, and for all of you, I hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you to all the readers of this story and liking it so much.**

**Let's get started!**

_**Last Chapter:**_

_** Cardinal and Wenst chase Elizabeth, the Queen of Chaos, to her old palace that lied in ruins. Cardinal and Elizabeth fought each other, having the guardian come out on top as the victor of the battle. Now Cardinal and Wenst are heading for the ocean, but not for some "Fun-in-the-Sun". They're after the God of Death, Tanatos, Medusa's second-in-command for the Underworld, will they be able to handle him? **_

_**Find out now!**_

_Chapter 7: the Seafloor Palace_

Wenst came into Cardinal's room, with a bowl of soup for her friend. It's been a whole week since they had fought Elizabeth, and Cardinal hasn't been the same since then. All day and all night, she's been training nonstop on her magic and skills. Wenst tries to convince her to stop and take a break, but Cardinal refuses to do so. Two days ago, Cardinal finally collapsed from exhaustion and Wenst called the village's doctor for help. The doctor told her Cardinal needed rest and plenty of it, so that meant no training and no missions. She needed to stay in her room and rest until at least 96 hours have passed. That was 4 days, and Cardinal could never sit still. Some times when Wenst to check on Cardinal, she would find her friend doing push-ups, sit-ups, or any other kind-of work out. This time, Wenst saw the guardian in her bed, reading her journal.

"How ya feeling?" She asked, closing the behind her. Cardinal looked at the spirit maiden, and smiled as she put her book on her nightstand.

"Better. You don't have to do this Wenst, I can get food myself." Cardinal said, taking the soup from Wenst.

"The doctor said you needed rest, and it's true. You've been working too hard lately. Why is that?" Wenst asked. Cardinal took a sip of her soup and looked down at the liquid. She then spoke.

"It was only luck."

"What?" Wenst asked, confused.

"It was only luck that I was able to defeat Elizabeth. I need to become stronger, in case she returns." Cardinal said.

"Cardinal...That doesn't mean you should push yourself so hard. Take it one step at a time. Please." Wenst said, almost sounding like she was begging. "...I'm going to the market. I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't do anything until I get back, alright?"

"Yes mom." Cardinal giggled. Wenst giggled as well and smiled. She left the room and went out into the village. When she got there, she saw millions of villagers in a big crowd looking into a window of a café.

"What's going on over there?" Wenst wondered out loud. She couldn't see over the crowd of people, so she activated her Power of Flight and flew over the crowd to look through the window from a distance. She saw inside the café a woman eating cake and drinking tea. It was Palutena. Wenst landed and went into the café. She walked up to the goddess, who was too busy to notice her.

"Palutena? What are you doing here?" She asked, finally getting the divine being's attention.

"Oh, Wenst! I didn't know you would be here." Palutena smiled.

"I would say the same to you." Wenst replied. "But seriously, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"I need to talk to both you and Cardinal. I have a new mission for you guys." She said, after taking a final sip of her tea.

"A new mission? Does it have to be right now? Can it wait?"

"No, it can't. It has to do with Underworld Army, and we need to do it now before they become too powerful for you and Cardinal. Where is she, anyway?" The goddess asked.

"She's...She's been doing too much training, and the doctor wants her to rest for 48 more hours." Wenst admitted.

"Oh my. Is she alright?" Palutena asked, obviously concerned.

"Never better." Wenst and Palutena looked to see Cardinal walking towards them, uniform on and weapon ready.

"Cardinal?! What are you-"

"Had a feeling, let's just say." Cardinal said interrupting the spirit maiden. She then looked at Palutena. "When should we head out?" She asked the goddess.

"Um...I guess now is a good of time as any." Palutena answered.

"Great. Let's roll." Cardinal smirked.

((**LINEBREAK**))

The girl's flew through the air and soon found themselves flying through a desert area.

"_We need to refocus our efforts on Medusa,_" Palutena began, "_so today's target is Tanatos, god of death._"

"Tanatos?!" Wenst asked. "'You mean THE Tanatos!? Wait...who's Tanatos again?"

"_Back in the 80's, Tanatos took the form of a snake on Medusa's head._" Palutena replied. "_He's quite the chameleon, you see, and that was his "look" back then._"

"Great fashion sense." Cardinal said. "But as god of death, he must be a big deal in the Underworld Army."

"_He possesses a key to the Underworld, and he's leading Medusa's invasion of the sea._" Palutena replied.

"Wait," Cardinal began. "So we're going to be fighting his forces under the sea? How are we supposed to do that?"

"_Just use your gills!_" Palutena replied. "_Tell me, Cardinal. How are you and Wenst with brachial respiration?_"

"...Wait, your crazy!" Cardinal shouted.

"_Alright. Just hold your breath, then! For about four hours!_" Palutena replied.

"I said, YOU'RE CRAZY!" Cardinal shouted. Slashing their way through Underworld forces, Wenst and Cardinal could eventually smell the salty air.

"Ahhh, I can smell the ocean." Wenst said as the two girls neared the ocean.

"_We're heading to Tanatos's base, the Seafloor Palace._" Palutena said.

"You were kidding about holding our breath, right?" Wenst asked.

"Watch and learn, pupils." Palutena said. "Witness the true power of the goddess of light! Ready, set...Dum da da daaah!" That's when something miraculous happened. Right before girls' eyes, the ocean began to part, forming a passage through it.

"Ohmygods!You'reMoses!" Wenst shouted in amazement.

"You've outdone yourself, Palutena!" Cardinal complimented, ignoring Wenst's weird comment.

"_Next stop: the Seafloor Palace!_" Palutena said as the guardian and the spirit maiden flew through the sea, taking in the sight of it all. It was magical.

"This is just TOO cool!" Cardinal said.

"_Heh heh! What can I say? I'm an overachiever._" Palutena replied, albeit sheepishly.

"_Ho, now! Just one second there, lassie!_" An elderly voice rang.

"Huh?" Cardinal and Wenst looked around in an attempt to find the source of the voice.

"_Oh, heh heh...Lord Poseidon!_" Palutena said. Cardinal then looked up to see the giant projection of an elderly, blue skinned, muscular man dressed in regal, white and blue robes and a small golden crown on his head. His beard and hair were long and snow-white. In his right hand, he held a large trident.

"_Tsk, tsk, Palutena. Lies don't become a lady._" Poseidon chided.

"_I'm sorry._" came the apology. "_But can't a goddess have a little fun?_"

"So that sea-parting buisness was...?" Cardinal began to ask though she already knew the answer.

"_Twas obviously my doing, silly girl._" Poseidon answered.

"_To pull off an attack on the Seafloor Palace, I went to the sea god himself._" Palutena explained.

"It all makes sense now." Wenst said.

"_I wouldn't allow anyone else to part my ocean!_" Poseidon said. "_In fact, I've half a mind to put it back together!_"

"No, please don't do that!" Wenst pleaded. Cardinal put her hand on Wenst's shoulder, telling her to calm down, and said that Poseidon would never do that.

"_We're going deeper now._" Palutena said as the girls flew deeper into the ocean, killing any Underworld forces that crossed their path. Eventually, Cardinal and her friend ended up in a small cave.

"_Despite your mischievous ways,_" Poseidon began, "_you should know you have my full support._"

"_Much obliged, Lord Poseidon._" Palutena replied.

"_It was bad enough when the dark forces were contained in the Underworld._" Poseidon said. "_But extending their reach to the sea and land is completely unacceptable. As the goddess of light, it falls on you to destroy them. I have faith that you will._"

"_You have my word._" Palutena vowed.

"Mine too." Cardinal said.

"Same here!" Wenst said as she and Cardinal flew out the cave and into what was apparently the ruins of an abandoned city.

"I guess this used to be a city?" Wenst asked.

"_Yes, but I sunk it long ago._" Poseidon replied.

"_Sunk it? That's a bit...extreme._" Palutena replied.

"_Humans consist of equal parts hubris, evny, and deceit. Sometimes one has to put them in their place._" Cardinal and Wenst looked at each other and remained silent, unable to come up with an answer for that. The girls then came across a bed of coral.

"This coral is sooo beautiful!" Wenst said, reaching to touch some of the coral.

"True, but don't forget the old saying that every coral has its thorn." Cardinal said, pulling Wenst away from the sea item.

"I'm pretty sure that you're thinking of roses." Wenst said.

"And I'm pretty sure that I'm thinking of coral." Cardinal replied. The girls made their way out of the coral bed and onto the bottom of the ocean.

"_We've arrived at the ocean floor._" Palutena said. "_Only a little longer until we reached the palace! From there, we'll defeat Tanatos and take his key to the Underworld._" Eventually, Cardinal saw a large structure coming into view.

"_Look._" Palutena said.

"So that's the Seafloor Palace." Cardinal said.

"I thought it'd be covered in barnacles and kelp, but it's actually very nice." Wenst added.

"_I'll be closing up the sea now._" Poseidon said "_It should wipe out any Underworld stragglers._"

"_Just give us one more moment._" Palutena asked.

"Please! I'm not wearing a life vest!" Wenst pleaded as she flew into the palace with Cardinal. Once they got in, they took a moment to take in the sights. From the outside, one would not think a room this large would fit inside.

"_The sea is closed now._" Palutena informed them.

"_My work is finished here._" Poseidon said. "_Good luck, to all of you._"

"_Thanks for your help._" Cardinal said. Wenst walked forward when Cardinal stopped her.

"Wenst, wait! Tanatos seems like a really tough opponent. He's Medusa's second in-command, after all." The guardian said.

"Oh. Right. So...so what do you think he'll be like?" Wenst asked.

"Hmm...Since he's the God of Death, he would most likely be emo, dark, and probably have most evil voice we've ever heard."

"_Oh goodie! Guests!_" A voice said with a slight lisp. "_Protecting an impregnable fortress can get awfully lonely!_"

"...What?" Cardinal was stunned by the sudden voice.

"_Is that you Tanatos?_" Palutena asked.

"_Actually, I go by 'Thanatos' now._" the voice replied. "_The extra H is for hamazing!_"

"...What?" Cardinal repeated.

"Have we...met before?" Wenst asked.

"_I'm wounded, truly I am._" the voice replied with a fake sob. "_I know it's been a while, but surely you haven't forgotten your old foe?_"

"...I have absolutely NO idea of what you're talking about..." Wenst replied.

"...What?" Cardinal repeated for the third time.

"_You know we've crushed Medusa's other commanders, Thanatos._" Palutena warned. "_Just give us the key to the Underworld, and we won't be forced to harm you._"

"_Hoo hoo hoo! Impatient as always, I see!_" Thanatos replied, either unfazed or ignoring Paltuena's threat. "_But since you've come all this way...wouldn't you like to stay and catch up for a bit? Oh, pretty please?_"

"_So you're not going to give up the key._" Palutena said.

"_No need to get all huffy now._" Thanatos replied. "_I'll have you know that I much prefer honey to vinegar. And I prefer witty repartee to any condiment!_"

"...This is getting nowhere!" Cardinal said, snapping out of her thoughts and coming back to the conversation. "Our goal here is to track down Medusa, right?"

"_Yes, Thanatos is basically Medusa's right-hand man._" Palutena said. "_That's why he has the only key to the Underworld._"

"_I have no such thing!_" Thanatos remarked. "_None whatsoever! Honestly. HONESTLY._"

"How did THIS guy get to be Medusa's second-in-command?" Wenst asked.

"_Beats me._" Palutena replied. "_Seniority?_"

"_Helloooo? It's rude to exclude!_" Thanatos said.

"Okay, if Thanatos won't give up the key, we'll have to take it from him." Cardinal said.

"_The longer we wait, the more we have to lose._" Palutena said. "_We need to strike soon. We only have a little way to go, so buckle down._"

"We're buckled and ready!" Cardinal and Wenst proclaimed in unison.

"_Yoo hoo! Can you hear me?_" Thanatos asked. "_I'd like to be a part of this conversation please!_"

"Shut the hell up already!" Cardinal said.

"_ME?! But you've been talking this whole story!_" Thanatos protested. The two girls walked up the stairs and into the next room, where they were ambushed by two Wave Anglers, Sherums, and a Armin. Cardinal defeated them all in one quick swipe with her scythe and walked into the next hall, leaving Wenst stunned for second before following. The girls came to the next room where they saw what looked like a rail of some sort. Seeing no other way forward, they hopped on.

"_That's a grind rail._" Palutena said. "_It beats walking, huh? The grind rails run parallel to each other, so you can switch between them. Stay focused on what's coming up! And no one else can use or even see grind rails. Consider them another gift from me to you._"

"Thanks, Palutena." Wenst said. "I appreciate all you do for us."

"But I'D appreciate it even MORE if the grind rail went to the boss." Cardinal mumbled.

"_Unfortunately, that's not possible._" Palutena said.

"But-"

"_Nope, not possible._" She said. The two warriors made their way down, dodging electric orbs as they did.

"_It seems like there's an electric current running through this palace._" Palutena noted.

"_Oh, my. An excess of frizowatts must have overloaded the dooziestat._" Thanatos said.

"...You have no idea what you just even said, do you?" Cardinal asked.

"_You guessed it!_" Thanatos replied. Cardinal rolled her eyes. She and Wenst continued along the grind rail until they fell into a hole into another room filled with shallow water. The room also contained a Shelbo and some Octos. They eliminated them all and proceeded onward to a small elevator that took them back where he started.

"Weren't we here already?" Cardinal asked.

"Yes, but there's good news." Palutena replied. "A new path has appeared. Follow it to move forward." Cardinal was about to follow the path into the other room when she looked back to see Wenst just standing there, lost in thought.

"Hey, Wenst? You OK?" Cardinal asked, walking back to her friend.

"...Oh. Sorry, I was just thinking of something." Wenst said.

"What's up? Something wrong?" Cardinal asked.

"...Cardinal...am I...useless to you?" The spirit maiden asked. Cardinal was a little shocked by the question.

"What? No, you're NOT useless. Why would you think that?" The guardian asked, concerned.

"Well...it's just-" Wenst was interrupted when a smoke ball came down and covered the two girls in smoke. They coughed as they inhaled the dusty air. The dust soon cleared and Wenst opened her eyes to see her friend gone.

"Cardinal? Cardinal, where are you?" Wenst called out, but received no response.

"_Hoo hoo hoo! Lose something little one?_" Thanatos chimed in.

"Thanatos! Where's Cardinal?!" Wenst asked, with clear anger in her voice.

"_Oh, relax. She's fine. For now, that is. If you want to save her, I suggest you get a move on before it's too late._" The God of Death laughed as Wenst growled.

"Such a low trick..." The maiden mumbled. Wenst followed the path into another room in a hurry, only to slip and fall on her butt. That's when a closer look revealed the floor to be solid ice. She got back up on her feet and stuck some ice cards on her sandals to turn them into ice skates.

"_Hoo hoo! Isn't skating just delightful?_" Thanatos said.

"_I wish my domain had a skating rink._" Palutena said.

"Well, too bad for you, Thanatos, because ICE is my speciality." Wenst replied. Unfortunately, the conversation distracted her from a nearby Snowman's ice breath. When the icy cold air hit her, it did nothing at all.

"Ha! During my training back at the shrine, I was able to learn how to survive all sorts of low temperatures, and this wind..." She took out her blade and skated over to the Snowman and slashed it in half. "...it's nothing compared to what I had to go through during ice training." She turned her ice skates back into regular sandals and made her way to a nearby elevator.

"An elevator! Well, that's convenient." Wenst said.

"_Going up._" Palutena replied. "_Now approaching... the second floor._"

"This play-by-play really isn't necessary." Wenst said.

"_Now approaching...the third floor._" Thanatos said a short while later. His comment was met with silence from both Wenst and Palutena.

"_Are you two ignoring me?_" He asked. Wenst said nothing, but continued onwards into a room inhabited by two Snowmen and a Frozum. Using her sword, Wenst defeated them all and moved into the next room. That's where she was attacked by a Mimicutie! Taking great pains to avoid its kicks, Wenst beat the chest monster.

"_The monster situation is quite claimant._" Palutena said.

"Is that... a good thing?" Wenst asked.

"_You know, it's importunate._" Palutena said. "_Or unpropitious._"

"...Are you still speaking english right now?"

"_I'm sorry, Wenst._" Palutena said. "_I didn't mean to confuse you. Let me make this easier for you. Big Monsters Kill Wenst! Grrr!_"

"Ahhh, that makes perfect sense! Thank you!" Wenst said. She then caught sight of a treasure box and made her way towards it only to cry out in surprise as the floor opened up from under her and she fell back into the main room.

"_Just your run-of-the-mill trap door._" Palutena said. "_Shake it off and keep moving._" Wenst navigated a narrow walkway while dodging the electric orbs that traversed it. Eventually, she reached a room filled with Ziks and a Zak. Wenst killed the Zik, severing its telepathic communication with its brethren. A Vakloom then appeared. Wenst had an idea and threw ice cards into the monsters mouth, turning it into solid ice from the inside. Finishing off the Vakloom, Wenst then saw a large panel on the floor and got on. The panel began to rise and take her to what appeared to be an obstacle course.

"What's this?" Wenst asked.

"_Looks like a moving platform. Stay on it._" Palutena advised.

"_Let me jazz things up for you a smidge._" Thanatos said. "_We do have to keep things interesting! Hoo hoo hoo!_" Wenst moved to dodge the oncoming walls and stayed still when the icy wind came along.

"_Keep on trooping, little trooper!_" Thanatos encouraged.

"_I'm curious about something, Thanatos._" Palutena said.

"_Yes?_" He asked.

"_You are the God of Death, are you not?_" She began to ask. "_And if the Underworld is the land of the dead, why don't YOU outrank Medusa?_"

"_I'm not really interested in climbing the corporate ladder._" Thanatos replied. "_You wouldn't believe the amount of overtime you have to put in. Plus, that sort of strict hierarchy isn't the Underworld style._"

"_You're avoiding my question._" Palutena informed

"_What was that? You seem to be cutting out!_" Thanatos replied. "_La la laaaaa la! I can't heeear you!_"

"It's hard to get a good read on him." Wenst said. "I can't tell if he's weird, just dim, or just mentally insane."

"_A-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa._" Thanatos replied.

"...Mentally insane. Definitely mentally insane." Wenst made it through the obstacle course and found himself transported back over the main room. She used the nearby elevator and was sent to a different room, one with marble columns lining it.

"_Thanatos should be in the next room over._" Palutena said.

"Oh, goody!" Wenst replied, mimicking Thanatos's tone. "Then do let us get to the fist-cuffing!" An assortment of Underworld enemies stood in her way. Wenst dispatched them all and made her way to the next room. The room was large with glass windows surrounding it. At the other end of the room was a large throne. Down floated Thanatos. The god of death had an overall clownish appearance. He had a green, cracking skin tone and fish-like characteristics. His face consisted of pink eyes with crosses in them, a stubby nose, and a large smiling mouth with blue lips and a small fang protruding from the right side of his mouth. He had pointed ears and a skull at the tip of his head that seemingly moved with a mind of its own. A red jewel was embedded in his belly and he wore a skull tattoo on his left shoulder. He wore silver shoulder armor that was covered with branch-like structures with jewelry hanging from them and bolts of energy swirling around them. He wore a large red scarf and trousers decorated with yellow and red stripes. His hands were red and he wore bracelets on his wrists. He also wore sandals decorated with skulls.

"Oooah! I must have dozed off there. Hooah. Waiting around is such exhausting work!" Thanatos said.

"Heroes always arrive late on the scene!" Wenst replied. she then noticed a large crystal floating above the room. she saw Cardinal in it, unconscious. She was about to try and free her friend, but held back, knowing that she had to defeat the freaking clown first.

"_Careful, Wenst. Thanatos is a skilled chameleon._" Palutena replied. "_Don't be surprised if he changes into a spider or scorpion or cockroach or tick...or a moth or lizard or leech or tapeworm or centipede or bat or snake or...cat._"

"But a cat...would be kind of cute, right?" Wenst asked.

"I'm TEMPTED to reach for my book of snappy comebacks," Thanatos began as he hovered off his throne. "but...maybe I should just show you? And a one, and a two... and a one, two, three!" Then in a puff of smoke, Thanatos changed into... a large, green foot?

"A foot?" Wenst asked incredulously.

"_Really?_" Palutena asked. "_How much harm could-?_"

"Ever heard of athlete's foot?" Thanatos asked, interrupting her.

"Oh God!" Wenst cried. Thanatos then leaped up in the air in an attempt to land on top of Wenst. Wenst leaped out of the way to avoid the crushing stomp. He kicked Wenst across the room, hitting the glass with a loud crack. Wenst got to her feet and tossed an ice bomb at Thanatos. The explosion of icy cold wind sent the god of death reeling into the wall. Another cloud of pink smoke enveloped Thanatos as he morphed into a large sword that resembled the blade Magnus wielded. The blade was surrounded by an array of spears.

"Slicety-Sliiiice! Dicety-Diiiice! Stabbity-stab-stab-stab-stab!" He sang as he slashed at Wenst the young girl dodged out of the way and used her own sword to counter.

"No need to sound so gleeful!" She said as she locked blades with Thanatos. Wenst managed to throw him off and got a few more good hits in. Thanatos changed forms once again, this time taking the form of a large bat.

"Keee! Keee!" He shrieked.

"That's not even what a bat sounds like!" Wenst said as she threw ice cards at her opponent, only for Thanatos to disperse into a swarm of bats. He then re-coalesced and fired bat-shaped energy blasts at the spirit maiden.

"Woop woop woop woop woop!" He said.

"And neither is that! This is getting REALLY annoying REALLY fast!" Wenst said. Wenst slashed at Thanatos with her sword. The god of death changed form once again, this time taking the form of a large doll.

"What's this?!" Wenst asked.

"_It looks like he turned into a doll._" Palutena said. Wenst threw ice cards at the Thanatos doll, but had no effect, until a card hit the red jewel. That caused the doll to split open, releasing a smaller doll.

"There's something inside of the doll!" Wenst exclaimed.

"_Wait, inside Thanatos...is a MINI Thanatos?_" Palutena asked. "_I wonder if they sell these in the gift shop._" Wenst repeated the process of firing at the gem on his chest, causing the doll to shrink and shrink until it released a very tiny Thanatos doll.

"Aha! There he is." Wenst said. Wenst crushed the mini doll under her foot, only for it to disappear into pink smoke. Thanatos changed shape once again. He now resembled a large, floating urn.

"I'm just gonna catch a few Zs here." Thanatos said. "By the way, your attacks are useless." Wenst slashed at Thanatos with her sword, but the sword'd edge didn't leave a single scratch. Thanatos spat out several skulls at Wenst. Wenst then got an idea. She used her sowrd to whack the skulls back at Thanatos. Those seemed to have more of an effect. Wenst kept it up until Thanatos was forced to revert to his normal form.

Cardinal began to regain consciousness and slowly opened her eyes. She shook her head and looked around herself. she was inside a crystal and when she looked down, she saw below Thanatos and Wenst fighting each other.

"Oh boy..." Cardinal mumbled. she tried to summon her scythe, but nothing appeared. "What?!" Cardinal was in disbelief right now. She then saw, out of the corner of her eye, Wenst being knocked into the wall.

"Wenst!" Cardinal cried out, but her voice didn't reach her friend. Wenst slowly got up back to her feet and glared at the God of Death. She needed to think of something, and fast before Thanatos finished her off. Wenst's head then fell to the ground as she panted and the memories of her childhood rush through her mind.

_"You're nothing!"_

_ "You can't even use a simple spirit card correctly. Why are you so stupid?"_

_"Can't you do anyhting right?"_

_ "What a nobody. Her family abandoned her and she can't even remember her own name."_

_"You wanna be somebody? Well, why don't you talk to someone who actually cares?"_

_ "Get out of here! You don't belong here at the shrine."_

_"You're a disgrace and an embarrassment to this shrine."_

"No...No..." Wenst mumbled. Wenst Colo was not the spirit maiden's real name. In fact, she had no memory of her family when she just suddenly woke up in the woods. Luckliy, the shrine master was in those woods that night, and took her in and trained her as his own personal student. The rest of students and people at shrine made fun of Wenst and ridiculed her for being unable to performs spells and such correctly, but she soon caught on and got the hang of it. Still though, people were mean to her. Saying she was useless, a burden, and a disgrace, and she starting to believe it.

_"What? No, you're NOT useless. Why would you think that?"_

Wenst snapped out of it and remembered what Cardinal had said before. She wasn't useless. Wenst then stood back up and got ready to fight Thanatos once again. Thanatos laughed and sent purple fire balls at Wenst, but the spirit maid dodged with ease. Wenst then slammed an ice card on the ground and the entire floor became solid ice. Wenst's sandals once again turned into ice skates and she zoomed around the room with super speed, make Thanatos have a hard time aiming and trying to hit her.

"Holy Frost Divination!" Ice chains, millions of them shot out of the ice rink and wrapped themselves around Thanatos, immobilizing him. Wenst readied her blade and charged at Thanatos, cutting him clear across the chest.

"Crushing victory!" Wenst shouted.

"Crushing defeat!" Thanatos replied as he began to inflate like a balloon. He then exploded into a burst of dark flame.

''Fareweeeeell!" He shouted. A pink gem with the Underworld Army insignia then fell on the ground. The floor turned back to normal as the crystal holding Cardinal shattered and released the guardian. Cardinal landed on the ground and Wenst dashed over to give and big hug.

"Oh Cardinal! I was so worried! I didn't know what happened, I should've known and-"

"Wenst, it's alright." Cardinal said interrupting her friend and returning the hug. "You did amazing back there, even though I didn't see the enitre." The two girls giggled as they released each other. Cardinal then looked back to see the gem on the ground.

"_Pick up that gem, Cardinal._" Palutena said. Cardinal picked it up and eyed it a bit before giving it to Wenst so she could take a look at it.. "_This is our key to the Underworld._"

"And we just have to hold it?" Wenst asked.

"_More or less._" Palutena asked. "_But first, we have to get you two geared up for the final battle._" She then extracted the girls out of the Seafloor Palace and back to the village.

**Whew! FINALLY done with this chapter, sorry it took me so long to those of you who were waiting for this. Anyways, as I said before, I hope all of you and your families had a great Christmas, and are excited for the New Years. I know I am! **

**See y'all Laters!**

**Next Chapter:**

**Cardinal and Wenst decided to go on a break from all the fighting and combat and take a nice relaxing cruise on the Galatic Sea. But what happens when their luxury liner is attacked by Space Pirates? Will the two warriors be able to handle this swashbuckling threat, or will they be forced to walk the plank and sink?**

**Find out Next Time!**


	8. The Space Pirate Ship

**Sorry that I haven't posting things for this story recently, I've been busy getting back into the mood of school and the second semester of my sophomore year. Anyways, I hope you all had a great winter break, so please enjoy the this chapter of KID ICARUS: SHADOW UPRISING.**

**Let's get started!**

_**Last Chapter:**_

_** After a fierce battle with Elizabeth, Cardinal was forced to go into bed rest for 96 hours. But soon, Palutena came along with a new mission for her and Wenst to go invade the Seafloor Palace and defeat the God of Death, Thanatos, and take the key to the Underworld. Cardinal got captured by the commander of the Underworld Army, leaving Wenst to save her on her own. After learning a bit about Wenst's past, the spirit maiden saves her friend and defeats Thanatos, gaining the key to the Underworld. Now with Palutena looking for ways for the two girls to defeat Medusa, the two warriors decide to take a break from all the battling by going on a cruise on the Galactic Sea. Will they enjoy the vacation they've worked so hard for? **_

_**Find out now!**_

_Chapter 8: the Space Pirate Ship_

Cardinal didn't sleep that night. It was her turn to watch over the village incase of Underworld Army attacks. Cardinal yawned, but couldn't be tired now. She had to be ready for anything. It's been 3 weeks since she and Wenst went to the Seafloor Palace and got the key to the Underworld from Thanatos. Since then, Medusa has been sending troops to the village, but all of the attacks were pretty weak in Cardinal's opinion. The guardian and Wenst were training nonstop with each other and both decided to be at the peak of their abilities so they will be ready for their battle with Medusa.

((**LINEBREAK**))

Cardinal came back to the house to find Wenst making some coffee for herself and the guardian. Cardinal sat down at the table as her friend came over with the mug.

"How was the watch?" Wenst asked, handing over the coffee.

"...Nothing out of the ordinary." Cardinal answered, taking the cup.

"Ya know, Cardinal, it's been 3 weeks and Palutena hasn't really come along with anything for us." The spirit maiden said.

"What are you saying?" The guardian asked after taking as sip of coffee.

"Well..." Wenst then took out a pamphlet and handed it to Cardinal. She took the pamphlet and read it out loud.

" 'GALACTIC CRUISE READY FOR ITS FIRST VOYAGE. Enjoy beautiful stars, delicious foods, and amazing entertainment while IN SPACE!'...No, Wenst. We're not going." Cardinal said, putting the pamphlet on the table.

"What?!" Wenst was a bit surprised, she thought a cruise would be what Cardinal always wanted. "Why not?" She asked.

"'Cause we can't just leave the village unprotected. The Underworld could strike with a bigger threat. We have to be here at ALL TIMES." Cardinal answered, causing Wenst to moan.

"Come on Cardinal! We deserve a break from all this battling. We NEED a vacation from all of this. It's only a 3 day, 3 night stay on the cruise. We're not staying there for a month." Wenst informed. Cardinal sighed.

"It's a nice idea, Wenst, but we can't just-" Cardinal was interrupted and startled by Wenst slamming her hands on the table and getting in Cardinal's face.

"Listen. I know I'm being a bit harsh, but we NEED a vacation, and we need one soon. Cardinal, we're going whether you want to or not! Clear?" Cardinal was speechless as she looked at Wenst. She then sighed in defeat.

((**LINEBREAK**))

The scenery was truly breathtaking as the cruise sailed the Galactic Sea and almost touching the constellations they passed by them. The people on the boat were mostly gods and deities but very few were of the passengers were humans. While Wenst was enjoying the pool, Cardinal was reading her journal by the lunch bar. She thought she might as well try and enjoy the cruise but her mind was only focused on the village and wondering if the Underworld was attacking it. The guardian sighed with worry.

"Worried about something?" Cardinal looked up to see a waitress with long night black hair. With a lock of hair covering her left eye, the hair had purple highlights on the tips. She had purple eyes that matched her highlights, and Cardinal thought that the girl looked awesome.

"Uh...yeah. Just thinking, that's all." Cardinal answered.

"Would you like something to drink?" The waitress asked.

"Water would be fine." Cardinal answered, looking back at her journal. Then she soon realized that the waitress sat down in the chair next to her.

"Name's Eclipse." The waitress introduced. Cardinal stared at her before then saying:

"I'm Cardinal Drake."

"So, just taking a vacation?" Eclipse asked.

"Eh. I really didn't want to come in the first place." Cardinal answered.

"Oh, you're one of THOSE kind-of people." Eclipse said.

"Uh...yeah..." Cardinal didn't how to respond to that.

"Anyway, you alone or did you come with someone?"

"Oh, I came with a friend. She's-"

"Cardinal!" The guardian looked back and saw Wenst coming towards her with a big smile on her face. "Cardinal, this is the BEST! The pool is amazing, the foods great and the boys-" Wenst stopped rambling and saw Eclipse.

"Oh! Sorry! Did I interrupt you guys?" Wenst asked.

"No, not at all." Cardinal said. "Wenst, I'd like you to meet Eclipse. Eclipse, this is Wenst."

"It's wonderful to meet you." Wenst said with a smile.

"Same here." Eclipse replied. "Listen, my shift ends in like a few minutes. Do you guys wanna hang out after it?"

"Sure." Cardinal answered.

"That would be great!" Wenst smiled, causing Eclipse to smile as well.

"Awesome. I'll see-" A scream of a young woman interrupted Eclipse as a giant ship jumped out of the sea water and landed right next the cruise ship. The passengers started to panic and soon the panic grew as strange creatures came jumped out of the sudden and landed on the cruise. There were 3 different kinds of the seemingly mechanical beings with scar-like cuts running down their faces. They all had one eye and their arms and legs seemed to be made of energy. Some were yellow, some were green, others were grey. The started attacking people and taking their stuff, some were even stealing people. Cardinal summoned her scythe and charged at the beings without hesitation or mercy. She sliced one's arm off, catching its attention. They started to engage in a fight as Wenst summoned ice cards and threw them at the other beings coming at them. Wenst looked back to see Eclipse gone. Suddenly, large black and purple-striped tiger jumped out and attacked more of the invaders on the ship. Cardinal attacked the interlopers on the cruise but they just kept coming back up each time she knocked them down.

"What are these things?!" Cardinal groaned out of frustration. Soon, the strange creatures began retreating back to their ship.

"Wenst, they're getting away!" Cardinal ran after them with Wenst and tiger following. "Where did that tiger come from?" She asked Wenst.

"I don't know. The pamphlet never mentioned anything about a Zoo on board." Wenst said. Then the tiger began to glow and formed into a young girl. That young girl was Eclipse.

"Eclipse?!" Cardinal & Wenst shouted in unison.

"I'll explain later! Come on!" Eclipse ran ahead and jumped on the ship with Wenst jumping on as well. Cardinal was about to jump on when the ship just took off at high speeds. Cardinal growled, but soon saw Underworld monsters following the ship with Centurions following behind. Cardinal guessed that Palutena was chasing the Underworld monsters and that ship for some reason. That's when the guardian activated her Power of Flight and flew off after the ship. Cardinal gave chase, killing any Underworld monsters that got in her way. Eventually, she managed to catch sight of the ship firing lasers at the Underworld forces.

"What's going on?" Cardinal asked herself. Soon, she saw an opening and charged at it and landed in the ship.

"Ow..." Cardinal moaned, rubbing her head. "Note to self: Never do that again."

"_Cardinal, what are you doing here?_" Cardinal heard Palutena's voice echo in her head.

"Palutena! What's going on?" Cardinal asked.

"_I'm a little embarrassed to say..._" Palutena began.

"What is it?" Cardinal asked.

"_You know about the Three Sacred Treasures used against Medusa long ago?_" Palutena asked.

"Of course." Came Cardinal's reply. "The Mirror Shield, Arrows of Light, and Wings of Pegasus."

"_Right. I hid them in case of an emergency. You know, so that they wouldn't get stolen._" Palutena said.

"Now that's a good plan." Cardinal said. "You're smart, you know that?"

"_The story doesn't end there._" Palutena began. "_See, there's also this _

_space-pirate ship..._"

"Wait, what?" Cardinal asked, interrupting her.

"_You know, a pirate ship...in space._" Palutena continued. "_Its crew travels the Galactic Sea, robbing the heavens of constellations._"

"So this the ship, huh?" Cardinal wondered. "Well, THAT explains why they attacked the cruise. But what does that have to do with the Three Sacred Treasures?"

"_Well..._" Palutena began, "_I hid the Three Sacred Treasures IN the constellations._"

"Uh-oh..." Cardinal began, realizing the unfortunate implications of that statement. "So the pirates stole the treasures along with the stars?"

"_And the Underworld Army has gotten wind of it._" Palutena replied. "_THAT'S why they're atacking the ship._"

"Oh, great." Cardinal said sarcastically.

"I know you and Wenst are on vacation, but-"

"Don't worry, I'll get the Sacred Treasures back. I've been itching for a good mission anyway." Cardinal said. She moved to the next room. He heard someone, presumably the pirate captain, speaking in an unintelligible language over the intercom. That's when he saw the space pirates.

"So those are the space pirates?" Cardinal asked. "I get the feeling they won't just hand over the Three Sacred Treasures."

"_They might even be tougher than the Underworld forces._" Palutena said. "_Be careful._" A yellow space pirate charged at Cardinal and landed a hard punch, nearly knocking the wind out of her. Cardinal used her scythe and retaliated with a few hard attacks of her own, cracking the pirate's armor. The final hit made a big hole in it, and finished the pirate. She then narrowly avoided a shot from a grey space pirate. The grey space pirate wielded a sniper rifle attached to its right arm. Ducking behind a nearby wall, Cardinal took her scythe and threw it at the pirate, making a hole clean through its exoskeleton, killing it instantly.

With the space pirates gone, Cardinal made her way out the room and into the hallway. A yellow space pirate charged at her, but Cardinal threw her scythe and killed the pirate instantly.

"Cardinal!" The guardian looked and smiled as she saw Wenst and Eclipse coming towards her. Wenst hugged Cardinal and said she was worried that she couldn't find the ship after it blasted off. Cardinal said she was fine and explained what was going on.

"So, we're getting the Three Sacred Treasures back from the pirates?" Wenst asked.

"Exactly." Cardinal said before looking at Eclipse. "Eclipse, listen. I don't want you getting hurt so-"

"And miss out this? Hell, I'm NOT missing out on this. Count me in!" Eclipse said, interrupting Cardinal.

"But-"

"No 'buts'! Come on, let's roll!" Eclipse cheered, causing Cardinal to sigh in defeat once again. The girls went into the next room and made their way down the stairs, killing space pirates as they did. The three made it out of the room and into a purple colored room. There was a glass container with something swirling in the glass.

"_This is the generator room._" Palutena said.

"What's that shining in the glass?" Wenst asked.

"_That's where energy from the Galactic Sea is converted into propulsive power._" Palutena replied. "_As long as the ship remains in the Galactic Sea, it can run _

_indefinitely._"

"So...We should destroy shiny thing?" Eclipse asked, getting ready to punch it.

"_You'd better not._" Palutena warned. "_The explosion might be enormous._" That made Eclipse stop and back away, slowly.

"Sounds hurty." Eclipse replied. She joined the other two girls as they walked out of the room and into an elevator. The girls soon found themselves surrounded by two yellow space pirates. Cardinal took out a dusty black orb and tossed it at the pirates. The orb exploded and killed the pirates.

"Whoa!" Wenst exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with amazement.

"Did you make that yourself?" Eclipse asked, also amazed.

"It's nothing too big." Cardinal said. "They're made of dark matter and energy formed together to create a small bomb. I call it a Midnight Bomb, but I'll save that for later. Let's move forward." They then walked into the hall and were met by a Belunka that busted through the wall.

"Wuh! A Belunka!" Wenst shouted, stumbling back into Eclipse's arms.

"_The Underworld Army really wants in on this fight._" Palutena said. Cardinal dispatched the Belunka with another Midnight Bomb and walked down the hall with Eclipse and Wenst following into a room filled with stars.

"_Oh, I see._" Palutena began.

"See what?" Eclipse asked.

"_This must be a storage vault for the stolen constellations._" Palutena said. "_They've all been compressed for easy transport._"

"And what about the Three Sacred Treasures?" Cardinal asked.

"_Unfortunately, they don't seem to be here._" Palutena said. "_I bet the pirate captain has them. I wonder if he's wearing them._"

"Oh my Gods...Then it's more than just an emergency!" Eclipse exclaimed.

"You got that right." Cardinal nodded.

"_It's a FASHION emergency._" Palutena replied. They wandered further into the room and Cardinal caught sight of a yellow space pirate facing off against a Skuttler and a Pirate Commando squaring off against a Snowman. Before Cardinal could do anything, Eclipse transformed into a tiger again and took out the pirates first, then the Underworld monsters. She jumped back and transformed back into a normal girl. Cardinal thought it was cool, but she was suspicious as well. Who was this strange girl? The girls then used a jump pad to get to the second level of the room. They then used another jump pad to get to the third level and out of the room. The trio entered the hallway and encountered a Collin and Phil, a suit of armor that flies around and fires bugs. Waiting for her chance, Cardinal slashed her scythe at fired bug and knocked it back, killing the creature. She and her friends walked through the door and found herself on the side of the ship.

"Whoa..." She said.

"_This is the side of the ship's hull._" Palutena said.

"The view is like a postcard!" Wenst said. The girls carefully made their way across the translucent bridge, taking out a Shildeen and two Daphnes together. Making it back inside the ship, Cardinal, Wenst, and Eclipse found a large metal door with a switch nearby. Cardinal knew what to do, so she struck the switch with a melee attack and opened the door. The group then walked through to find another door with two switches nearby. Also, pirates began pouring in from the two doors on the sides. Cardinal and Eclipse dispatched the pirates and fired shots at the doors, damaging them and preventing reinforcements from arriving.

While that was happening, Wenst hit the switches and walked through to another door with Cardinal and Eclipse following. Opening that door, they walked into the hallway and found themselves outside the ship again. They made their way across the walkway only for a Belunka to appear and spit out a Clubberskull! Cardinal and her friends kept their distance as two nearby snipers freed the monster. The Clubberskull roared and charged through them, killing them both instantly. The monster then caught sight of the girls and charged toward them, only to fall into the sea. They girls just stood there, stunned by the Clubberskull's stupidity. They looked at each other and shrugged it off and then walked into a small room.

"_I've set up a grind rail for you outside the ship._" Palutena said.

"Thank you very much." Wenst said.

"_I'm pretty limited in where I can put grind rails._" Palutena began. "_Luckily the underworld forces cleared out a lot of clutter._" Pit hopped on the grind rail.

"Where does this thing go?" Wenst asked.

"_To the ship's control room._" Palutena said. "_I think that's where we'll find the Three Sacred Treasures._"

"Good!" Cardinal said as she and her friends continued riding the grind rail. Eventually they landed in a room to find two Commandos fighting a Tortolunk.

"This place is crawling with Underworld enemies too!" Wenst said.

"Just keep pushing forward." Eclipse encouraged her friends. Cardinal took out both the Commandos and the Tortolunk. She then looked out a hole in the ship to find another Belunka. Cardinal pulled out two Midnight Bombs and threw them into its mouth, killing it instantly.

Wenst was met with a Monoeye, a Grayzer, and a Collin and Phil. Wenst dispatched them all. Eclipse then went on to see two snipers squaring off against a freed Clubberskull. Eclipse decided to aid them by transforming into a tiger again. The combined power brought down the monster. The pirates then turned on Eclipse.

_So much for gratitude_. Eclipse grumbled in her head as she killed them as well. She waited for Cardinal and Wenst to come over and then they walked into the elevator.

"_This elevator will take you to the pirate captain._" Palutena said.

"I am SO swabbing the deck with that jerk!" Wenst proclaimed.

"...Really, Wenst? Really?" Cardinal asked, annoyed and disappointed.

"...I-I just that-"

"No."

"But Cardinal-"

"NO!" Cardinal and her friends took the elevator to the top of the ship where they was confronted by the pirate captain. The captain was identical to his shipmates, but his exoskeleton was red with gold at the top, giving the impression of wearing a hat. His arms and legs were composed of green energy. Plus, he was kinda small. He jumped around shouting unintelligible language through a megaphone, possibly to call reinforcements.

"Uh-huh...OK...Ah, I see...Alright..." Eclipse mumbled, lik she understood what the captain was saying.

"What's he saying?" Wenst asked. Eclipse turned around and smiled, saying:

"I have absolutely no idea!" Cardinal groaned and put her hand to her foehead.

"_He's like, 'Yar, I'll make ye walk the space plank, scurvy dogs!'_" Palutena said. Her comment was met by silence from the three girls. "_...That's just a loose translation._" Wenst threw her head down.

"Oh man, not the space plank!" Suddenly, the ship began to rumble. Instantly, four massive red tentacles shot up from the sea and grabbed the screaming pirate captain. That's when a large octopus-like monster appeared. It was a gruesome sight. The creature's head was mostly colored red and pulsated at times. It also had a large fin with digital membranes on it. The area around its mouth and underbelly was white with more digital membranes running down to its four tentacles. It's eyes were black with yellow dots that moved in a bizarre pattern. It tossed the pirate captain into its mouth, promptly eating him. It then caught sight of the girls and roared with hunger.

"_A space Kraken?!_" Palutena exclaimed.

"Well, that came out of nowhere!" Eclipse said.

"What the hell is it even doing here?!" Cardinal asked as she dodged a tentacle.

"The Galactic Sea is home to all sorts of nasty creatures." Eclipse said.

"So it's not affiliated at all with the Underworld Army?" Wenst asked.

"_Either way, you'd better do something about those tentacles!_" Palutena replied.

"Understood!" Pit said.

"_Although, when prepared correctly, octopus is actually quite delicious._" Palutena mused.

"How can you think about food at a time like THIS?!" Cardinal asked as she and Wenst dodged another tentacle. Wenst pulled out a couple of ice cards and threw them at one tentacle and froze it in place. She took this as a chance to slash it and forced it into the sea.

"We've got three tentacles to go!" Wenst said. Cardinal took out two more scythe and threw them at another tentacle, knocking it down as well.

"Two left!" Cardinal said. But Cardinal heard Eclipse scream and she turned around to see that Eclipse was caught by a tentacle and was hoisting her high. Eclipse turned her hands into tiger claws and cleaved the tentacle in half, dropping him to the ground.

"Only one left!" Eclipse said. The tentacle slammed the ground in an attempt to flatten Cardinal, but the guardian dodged to the side and cleaved it in half as well.

"That was the last tentacle!" Cardinal said.

"Now let's go for the head!" Eclipse said as the Kraken itself rose from the sea. The beast attacked with blasts of light from its eyes. Wenst summoned a reflect barrier of ice and blocked the shots.

"I have a plan. Eclipse, think you get the Kraken to open its mouth?" Cardinal asked.

"I'll try." Eclipse said. She came out from hiding and caught the Kraken's attention and started firing blasts of water from its mouth, but Eclipse dodged them with ease. It then reared back and fired a torrent of water from its mouth in a sweeping motion. Eclipse his jumped high to avoid it and landed on the Kraken's face, turned her hands back into tiger claws, and stabbed them into the monster's eye. The beast roared in pain and rage as Cardinal saw her chance and she threw at least 10 Midnight Bomb into its mouth.

"Dusk Blade Strike!" Cardinal slashed her scythe downwards on the great beast, causing the bombs inside the creature to explode. The explosion knocked the monster back, losing its grip on the ship.

"Calamaried!" Wenst proclaimed.

"_What a sucker..._" Palutena said as the ship began to sink into the sea.

"Crap!" Cardinal growled. She looked around and then spotted a box. Wenst and her ran up and grabbed the box.

"Hey, look! Check it out!" Wenst said.

"_The Three Sacred Treasures must be inside._" Palutena said.

"Awesome. Let's-" Cardinal stopped and looked around. Where was Eclipse? Did she go down with the Kraken?

_Oh no..._Cardinal thought. _Did I...Did I kill her? Oh Gods..._

"The box really held up." Wenst said, not noticing Cardinal's expression.

"_It is less pixelated then I remember._" Palutena replied as she extracted the two girls from the ship.

((**LINEBREAK**))

"Can't believe it..." Cardinal mumbled at the table in her hut back in the village. "It's all my fault."

"No...Cardinal, it's MY fault..." Wenst said sitting down next to her. "I should've never suggested that we take a vacation."

"...No, Wenst, no. If I had just...thought a little bit quicker...maybe she wouldn't be dead now."

"...Listen. we can't just mourn about something that happened. We need to move

on." Wenst began. "She probably didn't know either, and I'm sure she's not blaming

you. So, we need to work this out. We have to move on to a brighter future."

"...You're right." Cardinal stood up out of her seat and looked at her friend with a smile. "I'm sure Eclipse wouldn't want to see me down like this. Even though we barely even knew her." The guardian said.

"Right!" Wenst agreed, also standing up.

"Alright. Let's get prepared for the final battle with Medusa." Cardinal said as Wenst went off into the training yard.

((**LINEBREAK**))

"_...Princess...Princess, are you there?_"

"...Yeah, I-I'm fine. Ugh, got that Galactic Sea water taste in my mouth..."

"_Can you focus, please?_"

"Sorry."

"_Anyways, were you able to retrieve the treasures?_"

"Uh...No..."

"_'No'?! What happened?_"

"I teamed up with some girls and we took down a Kraken on a Space Pirate Ship. I fell into the sea but was able to swim out to the Galactic Shore. I'm fine if you actually cared."

"_Wh-What? Of course I would care! You're the Princess of the Lunars! The Heir to the Throne of the Moon! Why wouldn't I care?_"

"Heh heh. Okay, okay. I get it. Listen, Jason, I'm going to stay on Earth for a little longer."

"_Why?_"

"Because...I have a feeling things are going to get a BIT interesting."

"_Well...alright. But stay out of trouble, and be careful._"

"I will."

"_...Promise._"

"...Cross my heart and hope to die."

"_Good. Over and out._"

**Whew! Lots of words for this one. Can't wait to write the next one!**

**It's going to be awesome! I just can't wait!**

**See Ya'll Laters!**

**Next Chapter:**

** Cardinal and Wenst head off to the Underworld and go to finally confront Medusa and end her reign of terror. What surprises will await them there?**

**Find out next time!**


	9. Medusa's Final Battle

**I'm back everyone! Before we start, I just want to thank all the readers who have been reading this story, so thank you, you've a great audience! Now, with out further ado...**

**LET'S JUMP INTO IT! WOOHOO!**

_**Last chapter:**_

_** Trying to relax and take it easy, Cardinal and Wenst go on a Galactic Cruise and meet a girl there named Eclipse. When Space Pirates attacked, Cardinal andr friends invaded the pirate ship, only to learn that the Three Sacred Treasures, the items used to defeat Medusa long ago, were on board as well. Now that the treasures have been retrieved, Cardinal and Wenst go off to the Underworld to face off against Medusa once and for all. Can they defeat the Queen of the Underworld?**_

_**Find out now!**_

_**Chapter 9: Medusa's Final Battle**_

"You ready?"

"Been ready all day."

"Alright...Equip!" Cardinal kicked the box opened and the Three Sacred Treasures came out. Cardinal equipped herself with the Mirror Shield, while Wenst got the Wings of Pegasus and Arrows of Light. Cardinal opened a portal that would take the two right to the area where entrance to the Underworld was. They flew through the sky above the ravine.

"_Are you two ready for the final battle?_" Palutena asked.

"It's now or never!" Cardinal replied as she and Wenst continued their descent, killing any Underworld troops that appeared.

"_For this final battle, you're equipped with the Three Sacred Treasures._" Palutena said.

"You know, Wenst, using the Pegasus Wings and your power of flight at the same time seems like overkill." Cardinal noted.

"_Who knows how reliable the Pegasus Wings are after all this time?_" Palutena asked.

"Don't worry, I've turned them off." Wenst informed.

"Understood!" Cardinal said. She continued to fly to the Underworld, encountering more monsters as she did.

"There sure are a lot of Underworld enemies around here." Wenst said.

"_Yes, so even though the Arrows of Light do a lot of damage, don't get cocky._" Palutena advised. The two warriors eventually came across a large ravine with Underworld monsters flying out of it.

"_This ravine leads to the Underworld._" Palutena said. The girls descended into the ravine, dodging lines created by Trailtails.

"Look at those Trailtails drawing lines." Cardinal said.

"Or... trails, right?" Wenst asked.

"Maybe." Cardinal replied.

"Probably." Wenst said.

"_I don't advise attacking for a little bit._" Palutena said.

"Why?" Wenst asked.

"_The Shootflies here will react to your fire._" The goddess informed. The girls looked to see Shootflies hanging about. They slowly made their way down, silently killing any Parashooters and Zurees that got too close to them. They finally managed to fly past the Shootflies.

"_I think we're out of Shootfly territory_." Palutena said. "_The entrance to the Underworld should be up ahead._"

"I hope the gem from Thanatos works." Wenst replied.

"_Watch out for Ornes ahead._" Came Palutena's warning. Wenst looked to see a lone Orne flying towards him. Without hesitation, Wenst fired a shot straight at the monster, killing it instantly.

"Did you see that?" Wenst asked with triumph in her voice.

"They were no match for your arrows." Cardinal said with equal triumph.

"_The Three Sacred Treasures have still got it!_" Palutena proclaimed. As the girls flew further, the Underworld Key began to glow as a large, eye shaped portal opened up ahead.

"Thanatos's gem is shining!" Cardinal said.

"_That means we're good to go._" Palutena replied. "_Get ready!_" Both of the female warriors flew through the portal. Once they did, they found themselves in the red, barren wasteland that is the Underworld.

"_The Underworld._" Palutena said.

"We finally made it!" Cardinal said. The angel was then greeted with a welcoming committee of Underworld monsters.

"That's a whole lot of enemies." Wenst said.

"Well we are on their home field." Cardinal replied.

"Home or away, we'll fight to win!" Wenst said, with Cardinal nodding in agreement. The girls then came across a group of Boogities, two Grayzers, and a Gloomerang.

"_The metal backs on Boogities resist everything, even Arrows of Light._" Palutena said. "_So, be careful._" Wenst fired on the Boogites, but they would turn their backs and deflect his shots. The Grayzers and the Gloomerang didn't help matters either. The two warriors felt overwhelmed until suddenly, a flash of light occurred and the monsters were destroyed. Wenst and Cardinal cried out in surprise before finding the Queen of Chaos herself flying in the distance.

"Elizabeth!" Cardinal called out.

"Hm? Oh. It's you two." Elizabeth replied.

"What are you doing here?!" Wenst asked.

"The same thing you're doing." Came the reply from the queen. "Pummeling Underworld fools. I'm just way better at it."

"_Maybe you also sensed that Cardinal and Wenst could use your help._" Palutena said.

"Don't make me laugh." The chaotic queen replied dismissively. "Now, enough talky talk. There's fighting to be done!" She then saw a swarm of Underworld enemies in the distance. "I'm out of here."

"It was nice of you to show up, Elizabetha." Cardinal said. "But I can handle this on my own!"

"You're not on your own, Cardinal." Wenst reminded her. "You have me and Palutena."

"Of course." Cardinal said with a smile. "I guess if I didn't have you guys, I'd be finished." The girls reached a wall and began to fly upwards, only for it to strangely become totally dark. That's when they were confronted by the giant projection of Medusa.

"So, you've made it this far." She said.

"You better watch your back!" Cardinal threatened with clear anger in her voice.

"Isn't that just... precious." Medusa said, unfazed by the the girl's threat. "Guess it's all that hot air that keeps you flying. You both are darling. But you'll need more than bluster to defeat me!" The projection then faded and the shroud of darkness lifted, revealing the ghastly sight of the Underworld Castle.

"This isn't bluster!" Cardinal said. "In the name of the humans of Earth, we WILL defeat you!" But before she and Wenst could fly into the castle, a barrier began to form around it. That's when a strange white machine of some sorts descended in front of the castle. It then unfolded itself and revealed numerous laser turrets as well as a singular pink eye.

"What is that?!" Wenst asked.

"_That's the last line of defense keeping you two out of the Underworld Castle, the Underworld Gatekeeper._" Palutena answered.

"It won't be keeping us out for long!" Cardinal said as Wenst opened fire on the monstrous machine. The shots from the bow seemed to have no effect though. The Gatekeeper responded with small blue shots from the four triangle shaped turrets. Cardinal blocked them all for Wenst with Mirror shield, giving the spirit maiden a chance to fire a charged shot at one of its turrets, disabling it.

"It seems the turrets were its vulnerable points." Cardinal informed. The Gatekeeper fired two grenade like blasts from the gear-like turrets in its wings. The female warriors dodged them all with Wenst firing back, disabling those as well. The colossus then began charging a large beam. The girls split up to evade that too and Wenst fired at the other three triangle turrets. It then retaliated with a ring shot from the turret in the middle and aimed at Cardinal. The guardian flew through the energy ring and threw a Midnight Bomb at the middle turret. The Gatekeeper then shielded its eye with a protective cover and changed its shape into the vague form of a jet. It then flew away and came back to charge at the girls. The two narrowly got out of the way.

"Why aren't any of our attacks doing more damage?!" Wenst asked with great frustration as he continued firing on the Gatekeeper to no avail.

"_Well it IS a boss._" Palutena said.

"It's SO annoying!" Wenst said. The Gatekeeper began to continuously fire large orbs at the girls. Cardinal threw and Midnight Bomb at one while Wenst shot the other one down until all of a sudden they heard:

"Hi-yah!" The two then looked to see the most astonishing sight:

Elizabeth delivering a kick to the Gatekeeper's head.

"Elizabeth!" Cardinal shouted. The colossus fell to the ground and exploded. The barrier around the castle faded.

"And THAT'S how you PROPERLY take out a boss!" She said with a smirk

"_For future reference, face kicking isn't usually this effective._" Palutena said.

"Get a move on before more defenses show up!" Elizabeth ordered.

"_Elizabeth's right. We should go, even if it means taking orders from her._" Palutena said.

"Thanks, Elizabeth!" Wenst said.

"Yeah whatever..." Cardinal mumbled.

"Oh, don't you guys are going hog all the glory for yourselves." Elizabeth said as she flew down to the other girls. "I'm coming too."

"What?!" Cardinal exclaimed.

"That's right. We'll have a better chance of beating Medusa with three of us. For now, just trust me." Elizabeth said. Cardinal shot daggers at the queen wity her eyes. She didn't exactly trust a being of chaos, but did think she had a point. Medusa was going to be one of the most toughest foes they had ever faced. Cardinal then let out a defeated sigh.

"Alright fine. We'll give you Pegasus Wings." Cardinal said.

"Thanks." Elizabeth smiled. Wenst handed over the wings, and gave them to Elizabeth, boosting up her speed when she's flying. The girls flew into the castle, bursting through the front door.

"_We're finally here._" Palutena said. Cardinal looked around the room and saw a hot spring, pools of hot water able to heal injuries, in the middle. The girls ran in to heal up. They then looked around and saw statues of Twinbellows, Hewdraw, and Pandora.

"Look at these boss statues." Wenst said.

"_It seems that each statue has a corresponding door._" Palutena said.

"Hmm...I think it'll be easier if we all go through each door alone, so we can cover more ground." Cardinal suggested.

"I'm fine with that." Elizabeth said.

"It would be quicker. Alright, I'm in as well." Wenst agreed.

"OK then." Cardinal replied. "I'll take the door by the Twinbellows statue, Wenst, you take the door by the Hedraw statue, and Elizabeth, you take the door with the Pandora statue. Clear?" The guardian asked. The other two girls nodded and ran off to the door they were assigned to.

((**LINEBREAK**))

As Cardinal went through her door, she found herself in a facsimile of the hidden village she protected. The sky was blood red.

"This looks like the day had my first Underworld fight." Cardinal said.

"_You've really come a long way since then, haven't you?_" Palutena said. Cardinal made her way through the replica of the town, taking out any Underworld forces that crossed her path. The guardian then thought that she heard someone crying for help. She made his way into an alley only to find herself trapped with a Clubberskull!

"_Watch out, Cardinal! It's a Clubberskull!_" Palutena said.

"Yeah, I figured that part out." Cardinal eplied. "Got any other ideas of what I should do next?"

"_You'll have to defeat it to advance._" Palutena said. "_Dodge to avoid gettting hurt, and go in for melee attacks when you can!_"

"Got it!" Cardinal then engaged the Clubberskull in battle, tossing a Midnight Bomb into its eye. The bomb exploded, disorienting the creature long enough for Cardinal to get in some decent melee attacks. The Clubberskull knocked Cardinal backwards into a wall. The guardian sprung back and charged with her scythe and slashed its eye, killing it instantly. She made it to the next part of town where she was confronted by a trio of Igniots. Using her Mirror Shield, she reflected their petrifying beams and turned them to stone. Cardinal finished them off with another Midnight Bomb. She climbed up the steps to see an Exo Tank in the distance. She hopped in and made her way up the next steps to the front of the collusem where he saw another Clubberskull. She charged straight at the Clubberskull then jumped out of the Exo tank at the last minute, letting the vehicle crash into the monster. Throwing another one of her Midnight Bombs at the Exo Tank, the vehicle of the Gods exploded and killed the Clubberskull. She then walked into the colusem to find the sight of Twinbellows awaiting her.

"Twinbellows!" Cardinal roared. And without hesitation, the dark warrior charged at the evil hound.

((**LINEBREAK**))

While that was all going on, Wenst found herself in the town where she and Cardinal slew Hewdraw.

"Oh, this place again." Wenst said.

"_This looks like where you fought the Hewdraw._" Palutena said. "_I have a hunch that Medusa is behind these replicas._"

"So this whole town is some kind of illusion?" Wenst asked.

"_It's as real as I am._" Medusa chimed in. "_I built it myself using your and the Hewdraw's memories._"

"_That's because you don't know what the original town looked like._" Palutena noted.

"_No matter._" Medusa replied. "_You're in my domain now, and you'll play by my rules!_"

"Yeah? Well, some rules are meant to be broken!" Wenst said as she made her way through the town. Using jump pads to make it across the rooftops, she saw what appeared to be a gyro top of some sorts.

"_There's an Aether Ring._" Palutena said. "_Why don't you try it out?_" Wenst got in the Aether Ring and moved about to get a feel for it. It was actually pretty easy to drive.

"This Aether Ring is pretty convenient." Wenst said.

"_Yes, like the Exo-Tank, it's a vehicle of the gods._" Palutena replied. "_The handling is a little soft but it has a force field to protect you from enemies._"

She began blasting Underworld monsters with the Aether Ring's gun. With the enemies destroyed, Wenst made her way into the well. The Aether Ring slowed his descent down. Wenst used the Aether Ring to traverse the gaps in her path, avoiding the Monolinth. She then used a jump pad to get back to the surface.

"_The Hewdraw is behind that door._" Palutena said. Wenst went through the door to find the Hewdraw resting in the lake.

"Hewdraw!" Wenst said. "Your chances of winning are lower than your bellybutton! Which is really low!"

"_You're pretty pumped up, huh?_" Palutena asked.

"Of course I am!" Wenst shouted. "If we defeat Medusa, we save the world!" She then went on the attack, pelting Hewdraw with arrows of light.

((**LINEBREAK**))

While the two other girls went through their doors, Elizabeth found herself in the place were she had awakened from her slumber inside the Anarchic Crystal

"Now this is one place I wish I could forget." Elizabeth said.

"_The Labyrinth of Deceit._" Palutena said.

"Which means a second helping of crazy. Ugh." Elizabeth looked around the room to find himself surrounded by spiked walls. It seemed like there was no way out, but she knew this trick from one of ther traps in her castle from long so. Elizabeth ran through the wall after it, coming out completely unharmed.

"It'll take more than some fake spikes to stop me." She proclaimed. Though she received no response,a he knew that Medusa was watching. But she didn't have much time to celebrate as a Sinstew grabbed him and dragged him into the pocket dimension in its pot. Elizabeth fought her way out with ease, immediately killing the Sinstew with a blast of powerful Chaos Magic. Elizabeth then moved to the left of the room and saw a small light on the ground. She touched the light and was seemingly teleported to another part of the room. She then looked around to find the room inverted.

"Uh...what just happened?" Elizabeth asked.

"_I think you just used a warp of some sort._" Palutena replied. Elizabeth walked a little further before finding another warp point. She then found herself back where she was, but this time on the other side of the room. She walked through the door and found herself surrounded by a Mik, a Skuttler Cannoneer, and a Monoeye that kept passing through the ceiling and the floor. She dispatched them all and moved further down the room to find another warp point. She once again found herself on the ceiling surrounded by enemies. The flying enemies such as the Monoeye and Syren were flying inverted.

"I'm all kinds of turned around." She said.

"_You seem to be passing between the floor and ceiling._" Palutena said. "_How very strange._"

"You're telling me..." Elizabeth said as she took out the Underworld monsters. She walked down the walkway and found himself facing another spiked wall. Not hesitating at all, Elizabeth went through it and found another warp point. Elizabeth went through the warp point and found himself facing a switch and two Zurees. She defeated the Zurees and hit the switch with her staff, causing another warp point to appear on the ceiling. She went back through the warp point and was attacked by an Orne. Narrowly dodging the creature, she headed through the warp point and teleporting to another part of the labyrinth. She then went through the door and found Pandora awaiting her.

"Pandora!" Elizabeth said with a smirk. "Ready for round two?" But the goddess of calamity gave no answer in response.

"_Seems Medusa couldn't make her talk._" Palutena said.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"_I mean that's not Pandora._" Palutena replied.

"But it looks just like her." Elizabeth pointed out.

"_That's just a soul dressed up to resemble Pandora._" Palutena said.

"_How clever of you, oh goddess of light._" Medusa chimed in.

"_I can't believe you'd stoop to recycling souls._" Palutena replied. "_Is nothing sacred to you?_"

"Well, you're in for quite a treat, Medusa." Elizabeth said. "Now watch in amazement as I slay Pandora for the second time!"

((**LINEBREAK**))

Back in the main room where the girls came in before, all was silent. There wasn't a sound. It felt like as if time itself wasn't moving in that room. Then suddenly, all three boss statues crumbled at the same time exactly, and a bright flash of light appeared, and when it faded, the three girls from before where standing there. All wounds and battle injuries healed.

"Huh?"

"What...What just happened?" Cardinal asked.

"The statues!" Wenst pointed at the stone that had crumbled on the pedestal before the doors.

"_Nicely done, you guys!_" Palutena said. "_You've destroyed all three statues._"

"Then it's time to destroy Medusa!" Cardinal replied.

"_The path to Medusa is back the way you first came in._" Palutena said.

"How is that even possible?!" Wenst asked.

"_Remember, this is Medusa's domain._" Palutena began. "_She's in control here, and I'm sure she's got more surprises for you in store. So be careful as you make your way to Medusa._"

"We're on it!" Cardinal shouted. "Let's move, guys." She and her allies went through the door behind them and was met by a Collin and Phil and two Skuttler Cannoneers. Cardinal took out the two cannoneers while Elizabeth was reflecting the bugs back at the Collin. The group soon then found themselves against a Spcknose, an Igniot, and a small group of Shernums. Wenst charged at the Igniot and slashed at its the bow before firing a charged shot at the Specknose. Cardinal dealt with the Shernums. With them gone, the group now faced a Suit of Skuttler, Skuttlers wearing protective armor, and a swarm of Shootflies. Taking care not to alert the Shootflies, Cardinal dashed behind the Suit of Skuttler and gave it a few good melee attacks. With all the underworld monsters defeated, the group of three made their way through the newly unlocked door and found themselves in a cavern.

"_I find it very ironic that you would call yourself the 'goddess of light'._" Medusa said. "_After all, it was YOU who turned me into a monster. It was YOU who hunted me down._"

"_You shouldn't blame me for that._" Palutena replied. "_I only reflected in your appearance the ugliness I saw in your heart._"

"_And what about your heart?_" Medusa asked, barely concealing the bile in her voice. "_I can only IMAGINE what resides there._"

"_Why just imagine it?_" came Palutena's rebuttal question. "_Don't you have the power to make it a reality?_"

"_There's no point._" Medusa replied. "_We all know it would be some sort of hideous creature._"

"You shut your mouth, Medusa!" Cardinal finally replied, stopping the group with clear anger in her tone. "Palutena is NOTHING like you! Who turns people to stone and poisons the rivers? Who reduces cities to rubble? And who is leading the Underworld destruction of the land and heavens? NOT Palutena! YOU'RE the one responsible for all this, Medusa! But what I don't get is how you managed to resurrect yourself in the first place!" The response Cardinal recieved was silence from everyone. It lasted for a good few moments before the Underworld Queen finally replied:

"_...I suppose I don't really understand how that happened either._"

"Don't play dumb with me! I wanna know the truth!" Cardinal shouted.

"_I...I don't remember what happened._" Medusa replied. "_My memories aren't what they were._"

"_You're slipping, Medusa._" Palutena said. "_Your mind isn't all there anymore. And I can sense that your life force is weaker than it used to be. Twinbellows, Hewdraw, Pandora, and Thanatos have all been defeated. But if you withdraw your army and promise to stay in this castle, I will spare you._" Medusa gave a haughty, derisive laugh in response.

"_Don't be ridiculous! Besides...it hardly matters how I returned. What matters is why. To exact revenge on you! Turning your little warriors to stone is a nice first step._"

"Threaten all you want." Cardinal replied. "You don't scare me! I WILL put an end to you. I'll return to Earth victorious!" Cardinal and her group navigated through the cavern, avoiding the streams of flame as they did. Eventually, they made it through the cavern and into a room inhabited by three Skuttler Cannoneers and a Suit of Skuttler. Elizabeth dispatched them all with ease and entered the next room with her comrades. There they was ambushed by more monsters. Taking out all the monsters the girls walked out of the room. But the next area they entered was mostly a bottomless abyss.

"_I set up a grind rail, but I had to get creative._" Palutena said. "_It's going to be a wild ride, so good luck._"

"Don't worry, we're ready!" Cardinal said as she and her friends hopped on the orange grind rail. It looked like something one would see at an amusement park. It was full of twists and turns. The girls rode their way through, taking out Underworld monsters as they did. The trio eventually landed on a plateau.

"_I can sense you getting closer, Cardinal._" Medusa teased.

"_There's nowhere left for you to run!_" Cardinal replied.

"_Y'know, I'm very much looking forward to your arrival._" Medusa began. "_I feel like Rapunzel waiting for her prince._"

"_Sorry to break it to you, but those aren't exactly golden locks on your head._" Cardinal chuckled.

"_And you're not exactly a BRAVE hero._" Medusa remarked. "_Yet somehow, the thought of our confrontation fills me with anticipation. So hurry to me, Cardinal. I'll strip you of your soul and sever you from the Earth forever!_"

"I don't think so!" Cardinal proclaimed. She and her allies jumped on the next grind rail and continued their voyage, eventually landing on another rocky walkway where he was surrounded by Magmoos and Handoras. Wenst killed them all and jumped on the final grind rail, landing in front of tow Boogities. Elizabeth dispatched them both and entered the next room, but there was nowhere to go.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Wenst asked.

"_There's a path somewhere._" Palutena replied. "_Step on the switch and use the lights to guide your way._" Wenst followed Palutena's instructions and stepped on the switch next to the group, summoning a row of lights. The girls followed the path and made it to the next room where they was surrounded by an Orne, and Igniot. There was also a diamond-shaped object. Wenst fired at it, causing an explosion that obliterated all three monsters. They then made it to the next room.

"_There are hidden platforms nearby that you can jump on._" Palutena said. "_First, reveal the platforms. Then dash up to a ledge to jump._" This time, Elizabeth stepped on the switch to reveal the platforms and leaped from platform to platform until he landed near a Mimicutie. Cardinal defeated the Mimicutie and kept going. They then dropped down to the ledge below and walked into the next room.

"_We're getting close to Medusa._" Palutena said. "_Be careful not to fall._" Cardinal killed the three Monoeyes in front of her group and a path appeared. They followed that path to a platform where there were two Miks and a Grayzer waiting for them. Wenst disposed of them and another path appeared. The girls followed it to another platform where they were attacked by three Shrips. Elizabeth destroyed them to summon another pathway that led to a staircase. But before they could move further, the girls had to deal with another Orne.

"_This appears to be the final guard._" Palutena said.

"The last step before Medusa's defeat!" Cardinal replied as Wenst fired a charged shot at the Orne, dispatching it. With that taken care of, Cardinal, Wenst, and Elizabeth made their way to the top of the staircase. They then walked through the door into what would certainly be the final battle. Once they walked through the door, the air began to fill with Medusa's taunting laughter. That's when he caught sight of the Goddess of Darkness in all her glory. She was every bit as tall as her astral projections, making for a very intimidating stature.

"So we finally meet again, Cardinal Drake." She said.

"S-She's huge!" Wenst said as she took a few hesitant steps back, but Cardinal stood her ground.

"_Be careful!_" came Palutena's worried response.

"Listen well, all you demons of the Underworld!" Cardinal began, taking her scythe out and holding it up in the air. "In the name of the humans and the Earth, and in the name of the Goddess of Light! I swear, in all their names, I WILL put an end to your regin of destruction!"

"Let's fly!" Elizabeth said, activating the Pegasus Wings to fly up with Cardinal and Wenst to evade Medusa's incoming fist. The girls flew around the dark goddess and fired attacks at her, but Medusa seemed more focused on Cardinal than the other two girls. Medusa then twirled her staff around before using it to create a gust of wind that sent Cardinal flying back.

"_I'm going to use my Power of Flight and try to get you closer!_" Palutena said.

"Thanks!" Cardinal replied.

"_But...Medusa's using her power to hold you back._" She said, causing Cardinal to give an annoyed groan in response. "_I know its tough but hang in there!_" Cardinal tried her best to get close to Medusa, dodging orbs of dark energy, lasers, and petrified Skuttlers. Cardinal made it to the circular arena while Wenst fired off a volley of arrows, but none of them seemed to effect Medusa in any way. She flew closer. Medusa blew two dark energy orbs that hovered near Cardinal before exploding. Cardinal tried her best to avoid the explosion and attack Medusa, but the Underworld Queen teleported away.

"Wow!" Elizabeth said, flying in next to Cardinal. "Warping THAT huge body must be a real pain!"

"Who are you calling huge, you insignificant little thing?" Medusa asked.

"_You have to get closer._" Palutena said. Cardinal and Elizabeth flew towards Medusa again only for her to warp away. Medusa's teleporting became more and more frequent as she fired beams from her eyes. The two girls avoided them all before Wenst finally closed in on Medusa, pelting her with shots from her bow. By the time Wenst reached her head, Medusa vanished once again. Wenst frantically looked around to find Medusa.

"Watch out!" Cardinal shouted as she pushed Wenst out of the way for Medusa to attack with her claws, knocking Cardinal to the ground.

"Cardinal!" Wenst and Elizabeth shouted in unison.

"Do you like that?" Medusa taunted. "Well you'll love this!" She then fired dark energy beams from her eyes at Cardinal, attempting to turn her to stone. Cardinal put up the Mirror Shield and blocked the beams. The snakes in Medusa's hair began firing energy beams from their mouths to increase the pressure. Cardinal struggled valiantly against them, but was eventually forced to move. She narrowly avoided the beams and Wenst was able to fire a charged shot that hit her directly between the eyes. Medusa stumbled backwards until she was at the center of the arena. That's when something happened. Medusa hunched over and planted her staff in the ground. She then rose up again with a roar and a hideous visage that would haunt everyone's dreams. Medusa now had green skin and a large red eye. The snakes in her hair were now orange.

"Her head!" Wenst said, completely repulsed.

"_Now THIS is the Medusa I remember._" Palutena replied.

"She's hideous!" Elizabeth shouted.

"_I can't believe she's still fighting like this._" Palutena said. "_But this is a battle we cannot lose. We must overcome the darkness of the Underworld with light!_"

"The fight against evil ends here!" Wenst proclaimed. Medusa's head then ripped itself off its body and flew after the girls, the snakes in her hair firing energy blasts from their mouth. But then, Cardinal blocked the attack with the blade of her scythe.

"Cardinal?" Wenst looked at her friend when she suddenly felt an intense dark aura coming from Cardinal's body. Wenst hesitated to ask what was wrong, Cardinal flew off with Medusa's head following in hot pursuit. Cardinal used skillful flying to avoid the attacks fired at her and attacked in kind, returning melee attacks from her scythe. Medusa would also attack with orbs of posion gas from her mouth. Cardinal dodged them as well only for the snakes in her hair to extend and wrap around Cardinal's waist. Cardinal retaliated by slicing the head of the snake off. Medusa gave an enraged yell and fired a red beam from her single eye. Cardinal defended against it with her Mirror Shield before attacking back. Medusa became frantic, sending more of her snakes at Cardinal. The guardian simply decapitated each snake as it attacked. Medusa's head then retreated to her body.

"Dusk Blade Strike!" Cardinal now revealed her face, her eyes completely dark purple and roared as she came down on Medusa and stabbed her scythe into the queen's eye. Everything went silent for awhile. Then Cardinal jumped down onto the arena floor as Medusa turned to stone and slowly crumbled into dust. Cardinal's legs the gave out from underneath her and the guardian fainted, but Elizabeth caught her before her head hit the ground. Wenst came flying over.

"Is...Is she...?" Wenst was at a loss for words. Elizabeth was silent, but then said:

"She's alive, she's fine. Only unconscious." The girls were then interrupted by a large rumble as the castle began to collapse. Palutena extracted the trio from the Underworld. The castle then collapsed into ruin.

((**LINEBREAK**))

Cardinal finally woke up, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that she was inside a temple of some sorts. Cardinal sat up from the bed she was laying on and got up. He legs wobbled a bit, but she was able to stand and walk. She opened the door and walked down the halls of the temple. Then she came to a room to see Wenst and Palutena talking to one another. This was about the third time Cardinal had met Palutena in person. She cleared her throat to catch the goddess's and the spirit maiden's attention. When Wenst saw Cardinal, a smile grew on her face and she ran over to hug her friend tightly.

"Cardinal! We did it! We REALLY did it!" Wenst cheered with joy. Cardinal then remembered what had happened. This time a smile grew on her face too. She hugged Wenst back and the two girls were so happy that they actually did the impossible.

"Congratulations! I know it was always easy." Palutena said. Cardinal let go of Wenst and walked over to Palutena.

"You know what? It was worth it. All of it. So...Thank you, Palutena. For helping out." Cardinal said, holding out her hand. Palutena smiled at the guardian.

"I think I should be the one saying that. Thank you Cardinal Drake." The goddes said, shaking Cardinal's hand. Finally, the war between good and evil was over. Everything was at peace now, and life going back to norm-

Suddenly, a centurion soldier came rushing in, out of breath.

"L-Lady Palutena!" He shouted. "Outside! The...The Underworld's attacking!" The Goddess and the girls looked stunned and shocked. They ran outside to see the sight of Underworld monsters attacking Skyworld.

"What the hell?!" Cardinal exclaimed, getting her scythe ready.

"This...This can't be!" Palutena said, stunned. Suddenly, a malevolent laugh filled the air and Wenst and Cardinal got ready for a fight. Then a figure emerged from shadows a few feet away from the three females. The man that appeared was a demonic, humanoid entity. The being had predominantly purple skin with red lines trailing down his arms and legs. He had red eyes and red markings near them. His hair was green with red spots in it. He wore matching purple robes that looked grotesquely organic as well as a large cape made from darkness and fire. The robe was held together by an orange sash.

"Hades?!" Palutena said with shock.

"Hades?! The Lord of the UNDERWORLD, Hades?!" Cardinal asked.

"The one and the same." Palutena replied.

"Sorry to keep YOU ladies wating." Hades began. "But now that I'm here, let's get this party started. It's a true honor to meet you, Cardy Carly. You too, pretty Palutena." The God said as he walked forward. Cardinal came in front of Palutena, protecting her.

"I'm... honored you know who I am." Palutena responded. Hades didn't answer, but took a moment to look at Cardinal.

"So, this little girl took down big, bad Medusa all by herself? What an accomplishment! Goodness, you should put this on your resume!"

"Uh, what's with this guy?" Wenst sked Palutena, put off by Hades's demeanor.

"Not now, Wenst!" Cardinal growled.

"But before you do, you should know that I whipped up that Medusa especially for you." Hades continued.

"What?!" Wenst exclaimed.

"Wait, how?!" Palutena asked, stunned by the revelation.

"Add a pinch of memories to a ton of souls. Put them in a blender and hit frappe!" Came the answer.

"Explain yourself!" Cardinal demanded. The Lord of the Underworld chuckled as he walked forward a bit more, making Cardinal tense up.

"Her thirst for revenge was so great, it seemed a shame to let it go to waste." Hades said. Suddenly, Hades past Cardinal, knocking her over and coming up to Palutena and titling the goddess's head up with his fingers to make eye contact with her. "Oh, pretty Palutena... you must have done a real number on her."

"I won't deny that." Palutena said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with how close Hades was.

"Deny it!" Cardinal shouted as she tried to slash Hades in half with her scythe. Hades was too quick for the guardian as he just simply knocked the weapon from Cardinal's hands and grabbed Cardinal's right wrist, tightly. Cardinal winced in pain as Hades's grip tighten around her wrist, but she didn't show it was almost killing her.

"Cardinal!" Wenst exclaimed as she was about to send ice cards at the God, but a dark wind blew Wenst back and slammed her against the wall, knocking the spirit maiden out.

"Wenst!" Cardinal yelled. Cardinal then glared daggers at the God, who simply chuckled.

"But she's old news, and old news bores me." Hades said. "We must look to the future, and that future is me, the true leader of the Underworld! Next to me, little miss Medusa's going to look like a sweet, cuddly bunny."

"No! This can't be happening!" Palutena said. Cardinal tried getting her wrist free from the evil Lord's grasp, but no matter what, the grip remained extremely tight.

"A word of Advice for you, Cardy." Hades began getting his face close to Cardinal's. "When you least except it..." Hades kissed Cardinal on the lips. Making full contact with her. Cardinal felt her entire face blush up and turn red. This was her first kiss. The Lord of the Underworld just stole her first kiss! When he finally released, he whispered into Cardinal's ear:

"...You'd better except." He finally let go of Cardinal's wrist. Cardinal let herself fall to her knees on the ground, stunned by what just happened. Hades walked away chuckling.

"I must bid you all adieu." Hades said, and with a snap of his fingers, he vanished. Same with the Underworld monsters in the sky. Palutena came over to Cardinal and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Cardinal, are...are you OK? Cardinal?" Palutena shook the warrior a few times. Cardinal wore a blank shocked face on the outside, but on the inside, she was angry and embarrassed by what just happened. Cardinal silently clenched her fist and felt her hand shake. She knew one thing. It was Hades's move now. The battle against Medusa was won, but the war against Hades was just beginning.

**Talk about some twists and turns for Cardinal! Being kissed by a GOD! And Hades, none the less. Anyways, thank you all for reading this story. Hope to come out with the next chapter soon.**

**See Ya'll Laters!**

**Next Chapter:**

**(Bonus Chapter)**

**After what happened with Hades in Skyworld, Cardinal feels confused and off. Wenst wants to help her friend, but doesn't know what to do. But when a surprise guest drops by Cardinal's house, will the guardian be able to get back on track?**


End file.
